But the collapse was less surprising to authorities, who had launched an urgent investigation into Hemisphere Constructions a month earlier. Only a day before, NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler had made an unannounced visit to a worksite in Concord operated by Hemisphere Constructions and found what he described as “pretty obvious” unsafe work practices.
“There is a strong correlation between unsafe worksites and the potential for serious defects to be incorporated in the project,” he told the ABC.
After cancelling Hemisphere’s building licence the following month, Fair Trading, the predecessor to Building Commission NSW, and investigators from Bankstown Police spent the year looking into the company. By January, they were ready to arrest Khouzame.
On visiting multiple homes connected to him, they encountered a problem: Khouzame was nowhere to be found.
After another month of searching, NSW Police obtained an arrest warrant and appealed to the public to find the wanted man.
“George Khouzame, aged 34, is wanted on an outstanding warrant in relation to fraud offences,” NSW Police posted on social media. “Anyone with information into his whereabouts is urged to not … approach him but to call triple zero (000) immediately.”
He handed himself in at Bankstown Police Station at 5.30am on March 6, and was arrested on the spot.
‘You should be saying thank you’
The builder in May pleaded guilty to the offences relating to his management of homes in Punchbowl, Macquarie Fields and Chester Hill.
At two of the three sites, Khouzame significantly understated how much his building projects were worth on insurance applications.
For a Macquarie Fields dual occupancy construction project worth $900,000, Khouzame was accused of writing in his Home Building Warranty Insurance that it was worth $520,000.
“Had the correct value of construction been stated on both insurance applications the value of the insurance premiums would have totalled $14,799.00 creating a deficit of $7517.94,” the facts tendered to the court read.
For a home renovation in Punchbowl, Khouzame listed the construction value to the insurance provider as $150,000 instead of $400,000.
He also pleaded guilty to engaging an unlicensed contractor to install windows and doors at a site he was renovating in Chester Hill.
Loading
Khouzame, who called the Herald on Wednesday from a private phone number after numerous attempts to contact him for comment, said the offences were “all they [the investigators] could come up with over a 10-year investigation and 350 homes”.
“The charges were dismissed in relation to the fraud and I plead guilty to only one charge for the home warranty application,” he said. “OK buddy?”
But after the Herald read out his nine offences, to which he pleaded guilty and was fined a total of $5450, Khouzame repeated his claim that it was “very minor fraud”.
“We failed, our staff failed, to update the home warranty to reflect the variations [in project costs] … It was just negligence from my office, and I did accept it, and I apologised.
“So we had existing 24 open projects when the house collapse happened and the licence was cancelled, and we paid out every single home owner and every single client.
“I didn’t run away from the problem. I approached the problem head on and I [had] done what I had to do to make sure that every client and every home owner has been supported by me personally.
Building Minister Anoulack Chanthivong says the charges reflected the new powers of the Building Commission.Credit: Chris Lane
“You should be saying, ‘Thank you, good work’.”
In its first six months, Building Commission NSW has cancelled, suspended or disqualified 136 construction licences.
“We’re starting to see the dividends of the expansion of powers the NSW government provided to the Building Commission,” Building Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said. “It now has an expanded tool kit to improve build quality and weed out those who don’t play by the rules.
“Already this year we’ve had a nearly 100 per cent increase in the number of building work rectification orders issued, helping to deliver compliant, safe and trustworthy homes.”
Chanthivong did not respond to questions about why charges had not been laid over the house collapse.
With his licence suspended, Khouzame is now working as a labourer for a friend’s food company.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
Source Agencies
