R v Chalabian (No. 3) [2022] NSWSC 77

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Chalabian (No. 3) [2022] NSWSC 77 Hearing dates: 14 December 2021, 1 February 2022 Date of orders: 8 February 2022 Decision date: 08 February 2022 Jurisdiction: Common Law - Criminal Before: Johnson J Decision: 1. The Court allows the application by the Crown to give directions to the jury with respect to the role of solicitor and trust accounts (in accordance with an amended form of PTMFI 9) after opening addresses. 2. The Crown objection to parts of the telephone intercept conversations at pages 58-62, 159-162, 165-175 and 184-193 of PTMFI 3 is overruled. 3. The Crown objection to part of the telephone intercept conversations at pages 63-66 and 157-158 of PTMFI 3 is upheld. Catchwords: CRIME – pretrial hearing – charge of money laundering under s.400.3(1) Criminal Code (Cth) – accused a solicitor charged with laundering proceeds of crime through trust account – consideration of directions to be given to jury concerning duties of solicitor and trust accounts – appropriate to give jury short directions early in the trial - rulings concerning Crown objections to tender of parts of conversations recorded under telephone intercept warrant Legislation Cited: Criminal Procedure Act 1986 Evidence Act 1995 Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules 2015 Cases Cited: Attorney General (Cth) v Foster (1999) 84 FCR 582 Director of Public Prosecutions v El Mawas (2006) 66 NSWLR 93; [2006] NSWCA 154 Dyldam Developments Pty Limited v Jones [2008] NSWCA 56 IMM v The Queen (2016) 257 CLR 300; [2016] HCA 14 Le v McElwee [2008] ACTSC 55 Roach v R (2019) 344 FLR 429; [2019] NSWCCA 160 Texts Cited: Australian Law Reform Commission, "Evidence", Report 26, 1985 Australian Law Reform Commission, "Uniform Evidence Law", Report 102, 2005 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Regina (Crown) Sevag Chalabian (Accused) Representation: Counsel: Ms T McDonald SC; Ms G Wright (Crown) Mr GA Brady SC; Mr A Williams (Accused)