Letter of comfort concealed Obeid family interests, ICAC told
February 11, 2013  Eddie Obeid leaves ICAC.  Eddie Obeid. Photo:
Edwina Pickles  The son of former Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid
has admitted he asked a lawyer to write a "letter of comfort" to
hide the family's interest in a coal-rich area of NSW.  The
letter was designed to conceal the family's relationship to an
investment company that was involved in tendering for a tenement
in the Hunter Region, the Independent Commission Against
Corruption (ICAC) heard on Monday.  The ICAC is investigating
whether former Labor minister Ian Macdonald rorted the tender
process in the Bylong Valley in 2008, and how Mr Obeid may have
profited from it.  The ICAC has heard the Obeid family stood to
make up to $100 million from the opening up of mining in the
valley.  Giving evidence on Monday, Eddie Obeid Jnr conceded
that he directed a lawyer to draft a "letter of comfort"
relating to a coal deal in the Bylong Valley.  Under questioning
from barrister Robert Stit