Eddie Obeid, corrupt former Labor MP, was behind the deal to buy the Offset Alpine plant from Kerry Packer not long before it burned down in mysterious cicumstances, a new book reveals. Obeid put the $15m deal together in partnership with stockbroker Rene Rivkin and former Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson as silent partner. SMH journalist Kate McClymont says the company had been heavily insured in the 18 months before a mysterious fire razed the plant to the ground on Christmas Eve 1993 – resulting in a $53.2m payout for the shareholders.
Eddie Obeid, corrupt former Labor MP
When the healthy insurance policy was revealed, the share price of Offset Alpine skyrocketed, leaving all the new shareholders in the money, though complications followed. McClymont says that Obeid had taken an option to buy his 25 per cent of the company for $2m, while Rivkin fronted the $15m pricetag. Obeid’s son Paul joined the company board to look after the Obeid family’s interests. By the time the factory burned down Obeid’s option had lapsed, but Obeid still demanded his share of the payout. Rivkin, she says, refused, and weeks after the final payment of the claim Paul Obeid resigned from the board. Months later a transfer of $1m was made from Richardson’s secret Swiss EBC Zurich bank account via the Arab Bank in New York to the Dora branch of the Arab Bank in Beirut, into the account of a close Obeid family friend. McClymont claims this was Obeid’s share of the insurance payout. The Offset Alpine fire was one of the most notorious events in the history of the Australian printing industry, with Rivkin and a host of associates including his driver, some celebrity friends, and now it seems Eddie Obeid, all making vast profits from the fire and subsequent insurance payout.
Offset Alpine suffered a devastating fire on Christmas Eve, 1993
Obeid was initially going to buy Offset Alpine with Helena Carr, wife of Bob Carr, as one of the three partners who submitted an initial $16m bid. Helena Carr reportedly thought better of dealing with Obeid, and walked away. Bob Carr went on to be NSW premier for ten years, and appointed Eddie Obeid as a cabinet minister. Obeid has had a string of corruption findings made against him since he left State parliament in 2011, and is currently fighting the ATO, which has presented his family with a $9m tax bill. Offset Alpine is now part of the Independent Print Media Group (IPMG), owned by the Hannan family, a respected Australian printing company.
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