Courgette owner James Mussillon refused bail over alleged money laundering
Canberra chef James Mussillon, who owns the renowned
Courgette Restaurant, is behind bars after he was charged with money
laundering, perjury and fraud.
Today Mr Mussillon, 49, was formally charged with 14
offences, some allegedly stretching back as far as 2016.
Court documents revealed police had been monitoring
communications between him and his co-accused Mohammed Al-Mofathel, 28, for
several years.
In raids conducted yesterday — which included the restaurant
and homes in Bonner and Holt — police said they seized about $1 million in cash
and assets.
Police said those assets included three cars, one of which
was a Lamborghini.
The home in Bonner was itself restrained under the ACT's
proceeds of crime laws.
Police said the search of the properties also uncovered
other items, including a gel blaster firearm, a commercial money counter and a
quantity of steroids.
Mr Mussillon is facing three counts of dealing with the
proceeds crime in amounts above $100,000, perjury, money laundering, perverting
the course of justice and making a false document to deceive a public official.
Mr Al-Mofathel is charged with trafficking cannabis, along
with perjury, money laundering and perverting the course of justice.
Courgette Restaurant has made frequent appearances in
Australia's Good Food Guide, along with other restaurants associated with Mr
Mussillon.
This includes the Water's Edge fine-dining restaurant on the
foreshore of Lake Burley Griffin, which Mr Mussillon sold last year.
But documents tendered to the court show around the time of
2015, Mr Mussillion sold the restaurant to Mr Al-Mofathel, only to reacquire it
later that year.
Police alleged Mr Al-Mofathel told friends the reason he
handed it back to Mr Mussillion was that "it was too much work",
claiming "I was hardly ever there, man. I was too busy doing my own
thing."
The court materials also show Mr Al-Mofathel collected a
disability support pension between 2013 and 2015.
In court today Mr Al-Mofathel pleaded not guilty all of the
charges he is facing.
His lawyer Paul Edmonds told the court it was a weak case
against his client.
"However strong the case is against Mr Mussillon, that
cash was not found at the defendant's residence," Mr Edmonds said.
"What paperwork there is consistent with the accused
being an employee of Courgette."
Magistrate James Lawton said the case was circumstantial to
a degree, but disagreed that it was particularly weak.
Detective Inspector Scott Moller said the arrests have
disrupted a major illegal business.
"This is a traffickable distribution network so we are
talking about kilos and kilos of cannabis in the ACT." He said.
"Principally what their operation involved was cycling
the money derived from the sale of illegal drugs through a (legitimate)
business."
He said an investigation like this takes a long time to
bring to fruition.
"It's the complexities of the investigation including
tracking the money and identifying where the money is going that's probably the
hardest part of these investigations following the money."
Detective Inspector Moller says he expects further arrests.
Mr Al-Mofathel was refused bail, but is expected to reapply
next week.
Mr Mussillon has not entered a plea and will also return to
court next week.
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