‘I am richer haha': Fugitive transport manager's message after $150,000 crypto transfer
WhatsApp messages, emails and phone records in 2021 show communications between Protection Barriers director Meshel Chellew and then-Transport for NSW manager Ibrahim Helmy about how she could set up a cryptocurrency account and later transfer funds of up to $150,000 at a time to another crypto account from the company.
In one exchange between the pair in 2021, a WhatsApp message from Helmy confirming that a transfer had come through read: 'I am richer haha.'
The Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating allegations Helmy was the mastermind behind corrupt relationships with companies, including Protection Barriers, that were paid at least $343 million in contracts. Helmy, 38, failed to appear before the ICAC in May and police have a warrant out for his arrest.
Under questioning on Wednesday, Chellow confirmed Helmy would regularly instruct her while on the phone about a cryptocurrency transfer, providing by email details which she then cut and pasted into Protection Barriers' cryptocurrency account to enable transfers.
'He is sending me a step-by-step guide. I can't follow what he said on the phone sometimes. He would send me a screenshot,' she told the inquiry.
'He is always on the phone. I didn't have a clue what I was looking at.'
Their first conversation was on March 13, 2021, after her husband, Jason Chellew, told her that Helmy would call to instruct her about how to set up an account for Protection Barriers. 'He just says, 'a guy will call you',' she said. '[Jason] said we are going to set up an account for [cryptocurrency exchange] Independent Reserve and I didn't even know what it was.'
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