Accused tax evader Michael Issakidis to receive $624,000 from taxpayer following spending spree

A millionaire businessman charged over an alleged $63 million tax-evasion and money-laundering scheme can’t afford to pay his legal bills after blowing millions of dollars on luxury cars, boats and an extravagant lifestyle, a court has heard.

The taxpayer will now bear at least $624,000 in legal fees incurred by Michael John Issakidis during his criminal trial, which was aborted on its 55th day in November last year.

Mr Issakidis was charged in May 2012 with dealing in the proceeds of crime of more than $1 million and conspiring to cause loss to the Australian Tax Office.

Authorities seized two Rolls-Royces, a Lamborghini, an Aston Martin, a Mercedes-Benz, a luxury yacht and some real estate shortly after Mr Issakidis was charged.

The cars alone were worth $2.7 million and the yacht $1.4 million. At least $9.6 million in assets remains frozen.

Mr Issakidis, who pleaded not guilty, spent more than $920,000 paying solicitors and barristers to defend him during a jury trial in the NSW Supreme Court between August and November last year.

He says he cannot afford to privately fund his defence in the re-trial, which is expected to go for 10 weeks, because he is broke, in part, due to a “love of cars” and “travel”.

He said an application for the frozen assets to be released to pay his legal bills for the re-trial has been refused.

Last month Justice Robert Beech-Jones ordered the retrial be stayed “unless and until” the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions pays him $624,000 to cover costs “thrown away” in the aborted proceedings.

Mr Issakidis and his former business partner Anthony James Dickson were targeted in a seven-month investigation by Project Wickenby, the federal government’s pursuit of wealthy alleged tax evaders.

The Crown case is that from November 2005 to December 2011 Mr Issakidis was part of a conspiracy through NeuMedix Health Australasia to make false depreciation claims in its tax returns worth $63 million. The Crown claims the funds were distributed off shore to various accounts and then repatriated to Australia. Mr Issakidis allegedly received more than $15 million from the scheme while Mr Dickson, a former partner at Ernst & Young, benefited to the tune of more than $19 million.

Mr Issakidis denies he was involved or at least had any substantial involvement, in the financial and taxation affairs of NeuMedix.

The Greek-born businessman’s trial was discharged on November 10 last year after 55 days of hearings when it was discovered some documents seized by the Australian Federal Police were not disclosed to his legal team.

In discharging the jury, Justice Beech-Jones said the documents are “potentially exonerative” and it would have been unfair for the trial to proceed.

“Although it was just one document in a forest of documents it was of particular significance to the case against Mr Issakidis,” he said.

Justice Beech-Jones accepted Mr Issakidis and his wife “had an extravagant lifestyle until his arrest” and it’s plausible he spent more than $8 million including on “very expensive cars and boats” between 2006 and 2012.

A 1992 High Court case held the trial of an indigent (or impoverished) person charged with a serious offence who, through no fault of their own, cannot get legal representation, should be adjourned, postponed or stayed until they find a lawyer.

Justice Beech-Jones found Mr Issakidis came “close” to fulfilling the criteria. His application for Legal Aid funding was refused in May 2015 but he has not appealed the decision and has therefore not yet exhausted all avenues.

As it was the prosecution who caused the trial to be aborted, the judge found Mr Issakidis is entitled to a stay pending payment of his estimated cost of the retrial – minus 15 per cent – by the CDPP.

Dickson was convicted in December last year and sentenced to 11 years’ jail with a non-parole period of seven years.

Mr Issakidis remains on bail until his matter returns to court in August.