Sydney deputy mayor who shut down streets for wedding fined $220

A Sydney deputy mayor has been fined $220 for shutting down streets in Sydney’s west for his lavish wedding, without authorisation.

Residents are still fuming after Auburn’s controversial deputy mayor Salim Mehajer blocked a Lidcombe street and hired out four helicopters, while his fiancee Aysha travelled with a motorcade of motorbikes and luxury cars worth $50m for the weekend wedding.

On Wednesday night Mehajer was fined $220 by the council following a vote in front of a packed public chamber.

Auburn councillor Irene Simms, who on Wednesday night intended to bring a motion to question the legitimacy of the road closure in Sydney’s west, said she did not think Mehajer learned any lessons from the vote.

“We need to wait to see what happens with the police investigation and with Minister Toole,” she told the Seven Network.

A spokeswoman for local government minister Paul Toole said a government representative observed Wednesday’s council meeting.

The ABC reports councillor George Campbell was met with jeers by the public gallery when he told Wednesday’s meeting the event caused “public disquiet” and “reeked of narcissism”.

Before the wedding residents received a letter saying the street in Lidcombe had to be cleared of all vehicles on Saturday or they would be towed at their expense.

Simms said the way residents were treated was embarrassing.

“People are very unhappy for being held up by traffic,” she told AAP on Wednesday afternoon.

Some residents called for the council to sack the deputy mayor, with nearly 3,000 signatures on a petition which argues Mehajer “treated the community with great disrespect.”

Police say no approval was given for the entire road to be closed and they are investigating.

State premier Mike Baird said he hoped Mehajer and his wife had learnt from the experience.

Fairfax reports Mehajer also downsized units in an under construction Lidcombe apartment block to increase his profits by $45m, but his development company Mehajer Group said the reports were misleading and false.

“The amendments to the Auburn Local Environment Plan (LEP) involved consultation with and approval from the Auburn City Council and Department of Planning and Environment and is part of the future urban growth proposals and design of the Lidcombe town centre,” the group told the ABC.