Eman Sharobeem arrives at ICAC with husband Haiman Hammo (rear). Credit:Jessica Hromas How an electric gate installed at her home was charged to the taxpayer and a fake invoice showing a delivery address of the Immigrant Women's Health Services went into the files. And how she was accused of inflating attendees at her organisation's group sessions to impress funding bodies. That sparked a furious response, not the first, from Ms Sharobeem. "You can try to tarnish my reputation," she said. "You can try to accuse me, abuse me, bully me, harass me, terrorise me but you cannot take away the fact that I … worked for women migrants and refugees and helped save many lives. You cannot take this away from me until the grave. You cannot and you will not do that.

Eman Sharobeem and Haiman Hammo at an Australian of the Year dinner in 2016. Credit:Fairfax Media "My work is known. My work is shown. The lives I've saved." Counsel assisting the commission Ramesh Rajalingam said the better statistics helped her profile. "I did not want to raise my own profile. I was pushed to come out and talk about my childhood and what happened to me as a victim of forced marriage, as a victim of female genital mutilation, as a victim to come out and help Australian women and girls and I did and I cannot regret that because many lives were saved. Do not take that away from me. " In his evidence, Haiman Hammo distanced himself from allegations against his wife, claiming he did not know about her alleged spending or claims. After moving into her home, Mr Hammo said he knew nothing about who paid for the Foxtel, the water, electricity, phone or the weekly shopping. All of it was claimed to the IWHS.

Instead, he offered to look after the outside of the house. But he was forced to concede that garden troughs and a fountain were paid for by his wife. And she had claimed the expense back to work. Mr Rajalingam pushed Mr Hammo for what he knew and when, including how Ms Sharobeem purported to be a child bride and psychologist in media interviews that helped build her profile. Mr Hammo contradicted earlier evidence about when they became a couple, suggesting it wasn't as early as 2009 as claimed rather only a year before they married in 2014. He acknowledged his wife had a "fault" in agreeing with what other people said when it painted her in a good light. "Eman in her answers and fast talk would – she has a tendency to agree with whatever other people, you know, would say. She would say yes and go talking. I think that's a fault of her ... she sort of agrees with other people's impression. Maybe that's what's in her mind but she tends to say yes and move on." Asked about her burgeoning public profile, Mr Hammo pointed to her networking and contact with politicians and the impact of a feature in The Australian newspaper.

Loading "I think there was a magazine article in the Weekend Australian that sort of made her the woman [about] under-age marriage and domestic violence and all this." A final report from ICAC is not due until at least October.