By Brendan Rees
Former Casey mayor Sam Aziz says his lecturing duties at a business school in Egypt are “sporadic” as he battles a heart failure condition.
“Sometimes when I get really, really sick it’s very, very hard to maintain any sort of regular teaching commitment. But anyway we’ll get through this – I’m sure one day,” Mr Aziz told Star News.
According to a legal document filed with the County Court, Mr Aziz, who is at the centre of an Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) inquiry, has an employment contract as a lecturer with Bloom Business School in Cairo until “at least July 2020”.
It also claimed Mr Aziz has ongoing health conditions including a chronic heart condition; diabetes; and mental health concerns.
Mr Aziz said he had to “improve” his ejection fraction – a measurement of the percentage of blood leaving the heart each time it contracts – if he had any chance of returning to Melbourne and defending himself against allegations he pocketed $900,000 from a developer and delivered favourable property decisions.
“People with my condition, which is heart failure, have a problem with blood coming out of the heart,” he told Star News. “A normal ejection fraction is about 50 per cent; mine is sitting at 16 per cent”.
The besieged councillor left Australia in October after IBAC investigators executed search warrants on his properties in Berwick and Roxburgh Park.
A significant amount of Mr Aziz’s personal property, including documents and electronic devices were seized during the raids, the court document stated. Mr Aziz’s sold his home home in Berwick prior to fleeing the country but the sale of the house was seized as proceeds of crime – with a restraining order also in place.
As part of its application for a restraining order, IBAC’s principal investigator Darren Prickett alleges Mr Aziz is suspected of committing offences including misconduct in public office, bribery of a public official, and dealing with the proceeds of crime, according to a court document filed with the County Court.
In an affidavit, which was sworn by Mr Aziz’s lawyer, Jeremy Peck, of Moray and Agnew Lawyers, Mr Aziz asks the County Court for an extension of time to make an application for an exclusion order which he says is in the “interest of justice to do so”.
On 17 November last year, Mr Aziz changed his return flight from Cairo to Melbourne, from 9 December to 19 November, to defend the restraining order, however on the day of his return flight, Mr Aziz was “suffering from symptoms including heart palpitations, shortness of breath and was visibly perspiring,” Mr Peck stated.
“Upon presenting himself to check-in staff on the day of his flight, Aziz declared the large amount of medication he was travelling with including supporting letters from his medical specialists,” the statement read.
“Check-in staff questioned Aziz about his obvious physical distress and large amount of medication, and Aziz was eventually refused boarding due to high risk of heart failure”.
Mr Peck stated Mr Aziz attended a private examination with IBAC on 3 October for the purpose of the IBAC investigation where he “cooperated in answering all of IBAC’s questions which included matters directly related to this proceeding”.
The affidavit added Mr Aziz will “continue his employment with Bloom Business School in order to financially support himself, his family and to cover ordinary living expenses”.
Star News tried to contact Mr Aziz for comment however in a recent interview he said: “I was called to give evidence privately come seven days before I travelled. Nothing was mentioned of me not being able to travel”.
“I didn’t find out about the public hearings until some three weeks after I left Australia to do the work assignment that I’m in,” Mr Aziz told Star News.
Star News has made efforts to contact the business school and is awaiting a request for comment. Meanwhile, a metropolitan newspaper reported the founder and chief executive Mary Louis confirmed Mr Aziz was teaching at the school and appeared “healthy”.
Mr Aziz recently told Star News: “I’ve been teaching a little bit” but added: “It’s been very sporadic because my health”.
When asked when he expected to return home he said: “I honestly don’t know. I hope it’s sooner rather than later. I’m not joking”.
While on a trip to New York for council business last year, Mr Aziz said he was hospitalised for five days and when he returned to Melbourne in July he was further hospitalised for eight days.
“I’m getting ongoing treatment but it’s not something that can be magically fixed overnight,” he said.
