A man allegedly involved in a scam, which police believe to be part of a global crime syndicate, that left a woman "very afraid" and $70,000 poorer has been granted bail after police and media reports were blamed for eliminating the prosecution's "greatest concern".
Amarish Kumar Patel, 28, appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with blackmail, aiding and abetting a demand with a threat to kill, and conducting transactions to avoid detection.
Patel, who works as a courier and cleaner, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The prosecution's document of alleged facts states the complainant on November 22 received a call from a man who identified himself as "Jerry".
He told her he was from the NCA, which she believed to be the National Crime Authority, and she needed to pay the NCA $10,000 otherwise he would send someone to "knock her off".
After an initial collection of that amount, Jerry called her almost daily demanding money.
For the rest of 2022, she continued to withdraw money from her bank account for collection.
By the end of December, she ran out of funds after withdrawing about $70,000.
However, Jerry continued demanding money, including telling her to go through her deceased husband's accounts.
After being notified, police were with the complainant at her residence on January 18 when they arrested Patel during a collection.
On Wednesday, his second bail application was opposed by a prosecutor based on the likelihood of being charged further from alleged offending; endangering the safety or welfare of anyone, particularly the complainant's; and, interfering with evidence.
The prosecutor said since Patel's arrest, the complainant had been staying at an accommodation elsewhere despite the financial costs to her and her family.
She said the complainant intended to return home and that Patel was aware of her address.
The court heard that since Patel's first bail application on January 19, there has been updated police information, including an alleged co-offender continuing to call the complainant "to continue offending and elicit more money" from her.
This person, who police believe lives in Brisbane and has been a friend of Patel's for 20 years, also allegedly tried to contact him in custody, the court heard.
The prosecutor said the "greatest concern" was the defendant potentially interfering with evidence, including contacting alleged co-offenders, "given the wider [alleged] criminal organisation".
She said bail conditions to limit that would be difficult to enforce as communications can "happen in so many ways".
The prosecutor said the risk of that was "incredibly high" because of Patel's longstanding association with the person in Brisbane.
Defence lawyer Michael Kukulies-Smith said Patel's phone had already been seized and the only risk of interference with evidence was alerting the person in Brisbane.
He tendered The Canberra Times' article that reported Patel's first bail application and police comments made during a press conference, saying information about this case was now public record.
He said that information, as well as a Google search document showing other media reports of Patel's name, may have already alerted any alleged co-offenders and associated syndicate about the case.
"Whether or not the person has become alerted, I can't say, but they [police] have certainly taken steps capable of alerting that person," Mr Kukulies-Smith said.
The defence lawyer also argued that the charges of blackmail and demand with a threat to kill "ought to be regarded as very weak" and likely to fail because they required the defendant to be aware of any threat being made.
"There's no suggestion he had, for example, a baseball bat or some other implement that implicitly denotes a threat and therefore he must've been aware himself," Mr Kukulies-Smith said.
He argued that the prosecution was inviting the court to assume "that the worst possibility would come to pass" if Patel were released on bail.
"That is impermissible reasoning," Mr Kukulies-Smith said.
Chief magistrate Lorraine Walker, who refused Patel's first application because of the likelihood of interfering with evidence, granted bail on Wednesday.
Ms Walker said the only matter that could be identified "beyond mere speculation" was the likelihood that the defendant could alert others in this scam about legal proceedings of his case.
"These proceedings, the AFP press statement, and press reporting of the issue have done that," she said.
"Whilst I share a general disquiet as to what other actions may be taken with respect to this scam, it is nothing more than speculation at this stage.
"Mr Patel is otherwise a person of good character."
Ms Walker said while the complainant was "very afraid", there was no basis on the evidence for her to find a risk of physical harm from the defendant nor was he the person who threatened psychological harm before his arrest.
Patel's bail conditions include residing in Harrison and not to contact the complainant. The case is scheduled for return in March.
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