Fadi Ibrahim has avoided a return to prison after a magistrate ruled his wife and business partner were acceptable people to provide $2.2 million to secure his bail.
Mr Ibrahim, 43, was released from Sydney's Silverwater Prison last month after his friend and business partner Benjamin Scott put up a mortgage of $1.46 million on his Vaucluse home and his Mr Ibrahim's wife Shayda Ibrahim offered a mortgage on a $740,000 investment property.
He is accused of financing an international drug and tobacco smuggling syndicate which allegedly involved his younger brother Michael Ibrahim.
The bail decision means Mr Ibrahim will continue to live under virtual house arrest in his Dover Heights home and will only be allowed out to attend medical appointments, meetings with his legal team and events at his children's schools.
Scott loaned $200k to Ibrahim
Crown prosecutors challenged Mr Ibrahim's bail, arguing Mr Scott and Ms Ibrahim were unacceptable.
Prosecutor David Staehli today argued that Mr Scott had an "intimate" association with Mr Ibrahim and had loaned him $200,000 in two separate transactions around the same time Mr Ibrahim is alleged to have funded the syndicate.
"Mr Scott's involvement is one that would render him unacceptable," Mr Staehli said.
"He had such a close relationship with Mr [Fadi] Ibrahim in the context of the offence itself that it would be inappropriate for him to provide security."
Mr Staehli described the business dealings between Mr Ibrahim and Mr Scott as "exceptional" but stopped short of saying Mr Scott was involved in the criminal allegations.
Not unusual for friends to post bail: Scott's lawyer
Mr Scott's solicitor John Hajje rejected the suggestion his client's friendship with Mr Ibrahim made him unacceptable to post bail.
"People who go for surety for others are usually involved in some sort of intimate association," he said.
"He told [the court] a story of friendship and he told [the court] a story of business dealings — it's not an unusual story."
Mr Staehli also argued that Mr Ibrahim had an interest in the investment property offered as security by Ms Ibrahim because it was purchased after their marriage, even though it was in her name.
Mr Ibrahim will return to court in November along with other members of the alleged syndicate.
