A court has allowed alleged fraudster and former federal MP Craig Thomson to travel to India as he awaits trial over multi-million-dollar migration fraud.
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Thomson, 59, faces dozens of charges after being accused of being the primary facilitator of more than 130 fraudulent visa applications over four years, yielding more than $2 million in profit.
He is due to be sentenced for a separate fraud matter in February.
But the Sydney District Court on Tuesday tweaked the former Labor MP's bail conditions so he could travel to India for a week from January 13 for business.
Since leaving politics in disgrace in 2013, Thomson has spent "a number" of years involved with a fruit-importing business, the court was told.
The Commonwealth opposed the bail variation over concern Thomson would not return for his series of court matters.
They include two trials in October for a "quite strong" case over alleged falsified federal COVID-19 assistance payments and the somewhat weaker migration case that relies on tendency and coincidence evidence, the court was told.
Prosecutors highlighted differences between Thomson's "florid" illustration of the business trip's larger trade purpose and his boss's description of needing the former union official to oversee garlic shipments.
"One queries what special role Mr Thomson plays in the packing and quality control of packing garlic," prosecutor Benjamin Scard said.
But Thomson's lawyer put the mismatch down to the former member for Dobell's way with words.
"It's more rhetoric than anything else. He is a former politician," barrister Michael Valentin said.
Though initially unpersuaded, Judge Mark Williams approved the variation once a $10,000 surety was offered by Thomson's boss
The 59-year-old also had strong community ties including a sick mother and other family members.
"There is nothing to suggest he has a secret family over there (in India)," the judge said.
Thomson will need to surrender his passport to police immediately after his return to Australia on January 20.
The trip still requires a magistrate to vary Thomson's local court bail, ahead of his sentencing for making fraudulent applications for state government COVID-19 grants.
A hearing for that variation is scheduled for next Monday.
Thomson, a former national secretary of the Health Services Union, entered federal politics in 2007.
He was suspended by the Labor Party in 2012 and moved to the crossbench after accusations of misusing members' funds while at the HSU.
A Victorian court later convicted him of misusing funds.
Australian Associated Press
