Her brother-in-law and real estate business partner, former Auburn councillor Minh Hua, is also a business partner of Cr Mehajer, one of the biggest developers in the area. Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer is facing eight investigations or court actions. Credit:Wolter Peeters On Monday, lawyers for the two men appeared in the Supreme Court as a liquidator appointed to their company, SM Project Developments, seeks to claw back $700,000. The spectre of an even bigger $837,000 tax debt was hanging over SM Project Developments in late 2013 when Auburn council agreed to refund half of a $650,000 holding deposit a separate company, owned solely by Cr Mehajer, had paid for the purchase of a municipal car park at 13 John Street in Lidcombe. Cr Mehajer did not participate in the decision but Cr Lam stayed in the chamber and voted it through.

Labor councillor George Campbell criticised the refund at the time as "effectively a loan". Salim Mehajer and his new wife Aysha at their wedding. "I think it's extremely important that council not provide a benefit to a councillor that would not be provided to anybody else," he told Fairfax Media at the time. Under the model code of conduct, councillors are obliged to disclose an interest in a matter and leave a meeting "if they have a close relationship or affiliation with a person who has an interest in the matter before the council," an Office of Local Government spokeswoman said.

Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer will have to pay $1.72 million to women who were injured when he lost control of his car . Credit:Nick Moir But Cr Campbell argues this framework had failed to address the complex web of "mutual dependence" that exist when there are developers or real estate agents on councils. He has called for an inquiry into the voting patterns at Auburn. "[The government] just will not recognise that there's such a thing as a common interest that binds people together so that, when one of them is out of the chamber, their interests are looked after," Cr Campbell said. Take the sale of the council car park, a $6.5 million deal the municipality negotiated with Cr Mehajer's Sydney Constructions and Developments that is only due to be finalised once a development application for 96 apartments at the site is approved.

Cr Lam voted for the initial sale in 2011, has backed requests for contract variations or extensions, and opposed efforts to rescind the deal. The mayor also sat on the regional planning panel that considered a development proposal incorporating 13 John Street in 2012, however this unanimously rejected plans for the site. In the same period, Cr Le's brother-in-law was preparing to redevelop another John Street property, number 38, via the business he co-owned with Cr Mehajer. But in July 2013, Mr Hua and Cr Mehajer's troubled SM Project Developments was forced to sell the property, which was then purchased by another of Cr Mehajer's companies, S.E.T. Services, for more than $1.4 million. Less than a month later, Cr Lam counted among the six councillors who approved a nine-storey mixed-use development at the site.

Independent councillor Irene Simms said she had not known that Cr Mehajer had been in business with Mr Hua. She said she was "deeply concerned about these new revelations and the fact that Auburn City Council has had so many dealings with Cr Mehajer over the past few years with no other councillor ever declaring a conflict of interest in his matters." In response to questions about his relationship with Cr Lam, Cr Mehajer said "I am content with my actions / words as everything I say / do is completely above board". "What other councillors wish to say / do is a matter entirely for them." Cr Lam did not respond to Fairfax Media's requests for comment.

Mr Hua, who was an investor in SM Project Developments but not involved in its day-to-day operations, told Fairfax Media his sister-in-law Cr Lam had no involvement in the business. "It's personal stuff, that's why she doesn't even involved anything," he said. Mr Hua told the Federal Court last year he still had faith in getting back his investment in SM Developments, and in Sydney's high-profile deputy mayor. "You trust your friend," he told the court. "Later he make money, he may repay you. That's ... trust."