Authorities have dropped some of the charges laid against the federal public servants who had millions of dollars worth of assets frozen after they were charged over a lucrative alleged fraud.
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Federal prosecutor Eleanor Hobba on Thursday withdrew abuse of public office charges in the matters of Abdul Aziz El-Debel and Gopalakrishnan Suryanarayanan Vilayur.
Magistrate James Lawton committed the pair, along with co-accused Raminder Singh Kahlon, to the ACT Supreme Court for trial on the lone remaining charge of conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth.
The three men were arrested last year during a series of raids across the capital, following an 11-month federal police investigation that began with a tip from the Department of Finance.
The trio, who have pleaded not guilty, are alleged to have manipulated the department's procurement processes to direct contracts through preferred suppliers for personal gain between June 2018 and June 2020.
It is unclear exactly how much the men are accused of swindling, but it is alleged that they used some of their apparently ill-gotten wealth to buy and renovate a number of ACT homes.
The Canberra Times has previously revealed that the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce has frozen about $7.8 million worth of assets linked to the accused trio, and that the Department of Finance has stood down or terminated each of the men.
The frozen assets include cars, bank accounts and seven homes.
The cases of Mr El-Debel, Mr Vilayur and Mr Kahlon are set to be mentioned in the Supreme Court for the first time next Thursday.
All three remain on bail, and face a maximum jail term of 10 years if they are found guilty.
Ms Hobba told the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday that she would eventually seek to amend the dates of the alleged conspiracy.
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