Former NSW Labor minister Eddie Obeid has been ordered to go to jail on Saturday morning after being convicted over a mine licence conspiracy.
Obeid, 77, was on Thursday given a minimum sentence of three years and 10 months for conspiring over a coal licence for his family farm in the Bylong Valley, when his Labor colleague Ian Macdonald was Resources Minister.
The rigged tender gave the Obeid family a $30 million windfall.
Macdonald, 72, was jailed for at least five years and three months and Obeid's son Moses, 53, was jailed for at least three years.
Lawyers for all three men immediately told justice Elizabeth Fullerton they were lodging appeals against their convictions.
Moses Obeid and Ian Macdonald were taken into custody at Surry Hills Police Centre ahead of their transfer to Sydney's Silverwater Jail.
Eddie Obeid, was allowed to return to his Hunters Hill home, after his lawyer complained that because of his serious health issues he could catch COVID-19 at the police centre.
After spending the night at home with his family, he faced court again on Friday via video link.
Wearing a beige zip up jacket, Obeid sat in an armchair near a window, with tied back floral curtains.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) solicitor told Justice Fullerton that 83 per cent of adults in the state's jails had received a first COVID-19 vaccine dose and 65.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.
The judge said she needed more information specifically about COVID-19 protocols at the Surry Hills Police Centre.
"Regrettably there remains a lacuna of information," Justice Fullerton told the court.
Justice Fullerton then refused permanent bail for Eddie Obeid until his appeal hearing, stating there were no "exceptional circumstances" which warranted it.
She told Eddie Obeid he does not have to go to the Surry Hills Police Centre, but must go straight to Silverwater Jail with his solicitor by 10am on Saturday.
The judge said draft grounds of appeal she has been presented with by Eddie Obeid's barrister include that she wrongly concluded there was reasonable evidence of his participation in the conspiracy.
The judge said she did not propose to engage further in any "analysis, dialogue or consideration" of the matter, which must now be turned over to the Court of Criminal Appeal.
