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had one until four months ago,’ John replied.
    Q.
What happened?
    A.
We were in the process of renewing the lease and we didn’t know we were going to be there. The chances of renewing the lease weren’t very good at the time, so we’d stopped …
    Q.
With which bank was the account?
    A.
Kings Cross State Bank.
    Q.
What was the name of the account?
    A.
Tunnel Cabaret.
    Q.
So you closed that account, did you, four or five months ago?
    A.
Could be longer.
    Q.
Since then you’ve not operated any bank account for the Tunnel Cabaret?
    A.
No, sir.
    Q.
Or for any business that’s conducted there?
    A.
No.
    Q.
It’s run as an entirely cash business for those last four, five or more months?
    A.
Yes.
    Q.
Is there any drug dealing going on there?
    A.
No, sir.
    Q.
Definitely not?
    A.
Never.
    Q.
Do you have trouble keeping the drug dealers out of the Tunnel?
    A.
Six years ago we had a bit of trouble, but there’s been no drug dealers, there’s been no mention of drugs in the place.
    Q.
How are you able to keep them out?
    A.
Well, by monitoring who they are and just not allowing them into the club.
    The examination then turned to a tape recording of a telephone conversation between ‘supergrass’ cop Trevor Haken and Bill Bayeh, in which Bayeh was recorded saying he wanted Sam Ibrahim, associate Russell Townsend and a man called ‘John’ out of the Cross.
    Q.
What comment do you have to make about what Mr Bayeh was saying in those two pieces of tape? Did you suspect that he was referring to you when he spoke of Sam Abraham and John?
    A.
He’s definitely referring to my brother, but I have no idea what Bill was talking about. I’m not sure that Bill has an idea what he’s talking about half the time.
    Q.
Well, he seemed to be quite sure that Russell – which we interpret as Russell Townsend – and Sam Abraham and someone called John had lots of people working on the streets in Kings Cross in the context of selling drugs. Have you had any such involvement?
    A.
No, sir, I haven’t.
    Q.
Definitely not?
    A.
Never have.
    Ibrahim treated the entire process derisively, and when asked by Agius what his relationship was like with Bill Bayeh, he was blunt. ‘After hearing that tape conversation, not very good,’ he said. He did not shrink from the persistent questioning, and when asked if he found the recent performance of a police officer forced to discuss corrupt activity ‘amusing’, John said: ‘I find the whole thing very amusing, to be honest with you, sir.’
    Q.
What do you find amusing?
    A.
That this is all – the way it is unfolding, it is just very amusing to me.
    Q.
What aspect of it is amusing to you?
    A.
Well, the police are finally sort of seeing how it is for your friends to dob on you, which they’ve been doing for years, managing to get friends to dob on each other and set each other up. Exactly the same thing is happening to them.
    In
People of the Cross
, John described the effects of the Commission in another way. ‘Four years ago about six or seven people used to organise everything that happened in the Cross. They were always against each other butthey were making so much money then that they controlled what opened, what closed, who worked, who sold the drugs. If you didn’t go along with it, these people had the muscle, and the know-how, to make your business life hell. Unless you were one of them, there’d be nothing you could do about it.
    â€˜In the last three years, things have changed. The organisation element has gone. You can now actually ring up a policeman, tell him what the problem is and count on him to help you. Before, that policeman would probably know the person you’ve got the problem with and it would cause you even more trouble.’
    JOHN Ibrahim is now one of the most instantly recognisable faces at the Cross.
    On any given Saturday night he can be found standing outside