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Dad in kidnap scandal accused of fraud |
Melissa Hawach, pictured outside the NSW Supreme Court, launched a legal action last month against her estranged husband's family in a bid to force them to reveal her children's whereabouts.
The Lebanese-Australian father of two girls at the centre of a mercenary kidnap furore has been accused of defrauding a family paper business.
Lawyer Chris Jurd said Joseph Hawach's ex-wife Melissa accused him of raiding the family finances just before he fled Canada for Lebanon with their two daughters Hannah and Cedar.
The Hawachs made international headlines after Canadian-born Mrs Hawach allegedly hired a crack squad of five mercenaries to retrieve her daughters from their father in Beirut.
Since their successful reunion, Mrs Hawach and the two girls, aged five and three, remain on the run in Lebanon.
"(Mrs Hawach) suggests that Joseph has taken money," Mr Jurd told The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"Is it fraud or is it just taking money from his wife?"
"We want her to come to Australia so these claims can be tested."
The fraud claims are contained in an affidavit filed as part of Mrs Hawach's action against her ex-husband in the NSW Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Lebanese authorities have allegedly discovered a video of Mrs Hawach telling her daughters to go with the mercenaries she hired to snatch them from their father.
The video was discovered on a laptop seized from the luggage of Australian man Brian Corrigan and David Pemberton, of New Zealand, who are accused of being part of the hit squad, The Australian newspaper reports.
"These men are going to bring you to see me, so don't be afraid, don't be scared," Mrs Hawach told the camera.
"They are good men, they are mummy's friends and they are nanna's friends as well.
"Be very good, be very brave and go very quietly."
The video contradicts claims by Mrs Hawach's Canadian supporters that she did not hire the men and they were just conducting surveillance.
Mr and Mrs Hawach married in 1999 after meeting at the Hawach family pizza business in Sydney's west. They separated two years ago.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=173873
Friday Dec 29 00:22 AEDT
SOURCE: 
©AAP 2006
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