The Land and Environment Court has found Mr Paul Mouawad (now known as Boulos Isaac) and his company Aussie Earthmovers Pty Ltd guilty of two offences each of supplying false and misleading information about waste, in violation of s 144AA(2) of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW) (POEO Act) and sentenced them both. Mr Mouawad was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 12 months, to be served by way of an intensive correction order (ICO) and ordered to perform 250 hours of community service. Aussie Earthmovers was fined $450,000.

The facts

 In 2016, Aussie Earthmovers were hired to remove excavated material from a development site in Darlington, in Sydney’s inner west. When asbestos was discovered, Aussie Earthmovers subcontracted a further company, S A Civil, to dispose of the waste. Between 3 June 2016 and 29 July 2016 a total of 134 truckloads of asbestos contaminated waste were transported from the Darlington site and disposed of by S A Civil, purportedly at a landfill in Kemps Creek.

However, data collected from the Kemps Creek landfill, a facility licensed to receive asbestos waste, recorded that only one truck load of material was actually deposited at that landfill. The rest of the trucks went elsewhere. The investigator for the EPA discovered that on at least 23 occasions, vehicles were recorded by Highway Safe-TCam as travelling on the Hume Highway at the exact time they were purportedly disposing of the material at Kemps Creek landfill. While some material has been recovered, the whereabouts of 83 truckloads of asbestos-contaminated waste remains unknown.

 Mr Mouawad admitted that he had purchased a thermal printer and then provided false waste disposal dockets to his client as evidence that the waste had been disposed of lawfully at the Kemps Creek landfill. He also admitted that he sent his client a “Ticket List Report’ that was almost entirely false, but which stated that a total of 84 loads of “Contaminated Asbestos Soil – 8032” were purportedly disposed of at the Kemps Creek landfill between 3 June 2016 and 24 June 2016.

The offence was discovered when Aussie Earthmovers’ client took one of the waste disposal dockets to the operator of the Kemps Creek landfill and was told that the docket was fraudulent.

Mr Mouawad was separately convicted for fraud offences

Mr Mouawad was separately convicted in the Local Court of various fraud offences that related to his dishonest receipt of over $225,000 in relation to the asbestos waste material. He was originally sentenced to a term in prison in relation to those offences, but this was reduced on appeal to an ICO of 15 months. An ICO is a court sentence that is served in the community under the strict supervision of Community Corrections. He was also ordered to perform 280 hours of community service work and pay compensation to his client of approx $225,000. As Mr Mouawad has been made bankrupt, this compensation has not been paid.

Land and Environment Court Sentencing for s 144AA(2) offences

The maximum penalty for an individual for an offence under s 144AA(2) of the POEO Act is $240,000 or imprisonment for 18 months, or both. The maximum penalty for a company is $500,000.

 In determining the appropriate penalty, the Court considered that:

 · the disposal of asbestos waste at unknown locations gave rise to the potential for harm,

· Mr Mouawad’s actions did not reflect any regard for public safety,

· the offences were reasonably elaborate and required a degree of planning,

 · the offences were committed for financial gain,

 · Mr Mouawad had demonstrated limited contrition,

 · while it was unlikely that Mr Mouawad would reoffend as he no longer performs asbestos removal work, the sentence needed to serve the purpose of specific deterrence as Mr Mouawad did continue to work in the construction industry,

 · Mr Mouawad had served 83 days in prison and 15 months of an ICO in relation to the related fraud offences; and

 · the offences were of high objective seriousness.

The Court then sentenced Mr Mouawad to a further term of imprisonment of 12 months, to be served by way of an ICO and ordered him to perform 250 hours of community service. Aussie Earthmovers was fined $450,000. Both were ordered to pay the EPA’s legal costs and ordered to publish notices in relation to the offences in The Daily Telegraph and Inside Waste.

18 March 2021 – Jennifer Hughes & Amelia Smillie