This is an application by the Legal Profession Conduct Commissioner (the Commissioner) seeking an order that the name Fadi Semaan (the Practitioner) be struck off the roll of legal practitioners. The Practitioner does not oppose that order.
2 In December 2010, the Practitioner was conferred a Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice by Flinders University. He was engaged as an associate in the High Court of Australia during 2011.
3 In January 2012, towards the end of his associateship, the Practitioner applied to a law firm (the firm) for employment as a solicitor. He sent the firm a copy of his curriculum vitae (CV) by email on 17 January 2012. The Practitioner later admitted having falsified the part of his CV which set out his work experience.
4 On or about 2 February 2012, the Practitioner deliberately altered his academic transcript using computer imaging technology. On the altered transcript he:
- elevated his law degree to show that he had been conferred Honours when he had not;
- falsified 21 subject grades in his law degree, generally increasing his grades to distinctions and high distinctions; and
- forged a commerce degree, which he had never been awarded.
5 On 6 February 2012 the Practitioner was admitted to practice as a barrister and solicitor in the Supreme Court of South Australia. On 10 February 2012, four days after his admission, the Practitioner sent the altered transcript (dated 2 February 2012) to the firm by email in support of his application for employment.
6 It was the second time that the Practitioner had provided a falsified academic record to the firm. The first time was in 2010 on an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a clerkship. However, the Practitioner was successful on this second attempt and was employed by the firm on 2 April 2012. On 29 June 2012, he resigned from his employment.
7 On 14 August 2012 the firm discovered that the Practitioner’s altered transcript was fraudulent after noting discrepancies between the transcript he had submitted in 2010 and the altered transcript submitted on 10 February. The firm reported the matter to the Law Society of South Australia, who then reported the matter to the Legal Practitioners Conduct Board, pursuant to s 14AB of the Legal Practitioners Act 1981 (SA) (the Legal Practitioners Act).Meanwhile, we might be asking some disquieting questions about the effectiveness of vetting in the Victoria Police.
Following an IBAC investigation (labelled Operation Salina) The Age reports
A senior Victoria Police officer has pleaded guilty to 10 fraud offences, including dishonestly obtaining six properties and rorting Centrelink, following a major investigation by the state's corruption watchdog. Sergeant Rosa Catherine Rossi, 57, also pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court to unauthorised access of the police database, LEAP, and falsely claiming in statutory declarations that her name was Dianne Marshall and she lived in Endeavour Hills.Misuse of the database and fake identification are salient because Rossi has been using the data to appropriate residential properties.
The Age states that
Rossi used a string of aliases over the past 20 years, including Nora Marguglio, Rosa Spencer and Bella Rossi.
In 2005, she declared bankruptcy under her former name Rossa Catherine Marguglio, owing more than $750,000 to several banks and racking up massive debts on several credit cards. Rossi became familiar with the financial system while working as a teller at a bank.
At the same time she worked as a beautician at a Cheltenham nursing home. She left both jobs under a cloud.She then joined Victoria Police. Filter fail, as one of my students says!
Rossi exploited her role during an 18-month crime spree, often wearing her uniform to help persuade others to furnish her with private information.
Rossi pleaded guilty to deceiving locksmiths to fraudulently take possession of houses in Malvern East, Chadstone, Brooklyn and three rural properties in Willaura, about 230 kilometres west of Melbourne.
She accessed LEAP, without authorisation, to acquire information about the owner of the Malvern East home in October 2016. A month later, she obtained the property by deception after telling a locksmith it was a deceased estate and she was the owner ...
Operation Salina, also resulted in Rossi being charged with fraudulently claiming rent assistance from Centrelink on behalf of another woman.The Herald Sun reports
A decorated police sergeant has admitted to fraud and perjury after she was busted using her badge and position in the force to steal homes across the state. Sgt Rosa Rossi deceived locksmiths during an 18-month crime spree, ordering them to change locks on five houses, allowing her to illegally obtain vacant properties.
The senior officer [an Inspector] has also admitted to trying to lease a stolen home in Brooklyn to an unsuspecting tenant.
Sgt Rossi, a high-ranking police member who was awarded a group citation medal for merit, had earlier stated she was looking forward to her day in court so that she could tell her side of the story. But yesterday the police-woman remained silent as the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard she would plead guilty to 10 offences on the morning her committal trial was to begin. ...
Sgt Rossi pleaded guilty to five counts of obtaining property by deception and defrauding the Commonwealth by receiving “rent assistance” payments to which she was not entitled. She has also admitted to using the Victoria Police database to access restricted information and making false statements about her identity.The Inspector charged by IBAC admitted he lied to anti-corruption investigators about his relationship with Sgt Rossi. He reportedly claimed he perjured himself because he was worried his wife would find out he had been texting Rossi.
