'Unacceptable': Public service fraud case has 'changed dramatically', court told

Another is set to ask a judge to stop the trio's looming trial going ahead as planned after the case "changed dramatically".

Abdul Aziz El-Debel, Gopalakrishnan Suryanarayanan Vilayur and Raminder Singh Kahlon are scheduled to face a six-week trial, beginning on May 30, over allegations they conspired to defraud the Commonwealth.

The men, who have pleaded not guilty, allegedly manipulated procurement processes at the Department of Finance in order to direct contracts through preferred suppliers for personal gain.

It is unclear exactly how much the trio is accused of swindling, but about $7.8 million in assets linked to the men were frozen by the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce after they were charged in June 2020.

Nearly two years on and just two-and-a-half weeks out from the trial, Justice Michael Elkaim heard what he described as "assorted complaints about the [prosecution]" in the ACT Supreme Court on Friday.

Vilayur's barrister, Mary Keaney, said the prosecution was yet to provide important material and that, based on what had been disclosed, "this matter's changed dramatically in the last few weeks".

Ms Keaney told Justice Elkaim that while prosecutor David Staehli SC had indicated he would be ready to proceed on May 30, the state of the case was "completely unacceptable and can't be said to be fair".

She sought that the trial listing be vacated and Vilayur's matter be relisted for an application to stay proceedings against him.

"My very clear submission today is that Mr Vilayur is prejudiced," Ms Keaney said. "We are not ready."

Matthew Kalyk, a barrister for Kahlon, also complained of missing material, saying he had not seen a witness list for the trial and did not know what evidence the prosecution proposed to rely upon in relation to his client.

"We want the trial on but we want it to be fair," Mr Kalyk said, describing what had occurred until now as "a terrible waste of everyone's time".

He said he had consistently been foreshadowing an application to have Kahlon's trial severed from that of the co-accused, but he had been unable to make it because there were still "too many moving parts".

Catherine Newman told the court her client, El-Debel, was keen to have his case finalised because he had been unable to work for the past two years.

She said the prosecution needed to "get some things done" and provide relevant material rather than "just cruise" towards the trial, with the case against El-Debel remaining "completely unclear".

The barrister also levelled criticism at what she described as "bizarre" plans to call 47 police officers as witnesses during the trial, saying some facts could be agreed to prevent so many needing to take the stand.

Justice Elkaim ultimately adjourned the matter until next Friday, when he said he would deal with "all sorts of things". These included the potential applications to stay or split the trials of any of the accused.

The judge also ordered the prosecution to provide any overdue material to the alleged fraudsters' legal teams by next Wednesday.

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