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The courtroom was bustling today as travel agent Cheng Christine Zhang and her co-defendants, Basilios Meletsis and Alex Dimopoulos, appeared alongside their fellow accused.
All four individuals were granted bail after initially receiving charges via summons. A key condition of their release is to avoid any contact with witnesses involved in the prosecution’s case.
During the hearing, Zhang’s attorney argued for her to have the ability to travel abroad and attempted to secure a suppression order for her case. However, the request was denied due to a lack of supporting evidence.
Dean, Zhang, Meletsis, and Dimopoulos are all scheduled to make their next court appearance on April 23.
Following the proceedings, court documents disclosed that Dean is confronting 35 charges as a result of an investigation by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission focusing on his actions as a police veteran.
This includes allegations Dean received return flights to Thailand from Zhang on two occasions, in January and August 2019, and one night accommodation at Sandpiper Hotel Apollo Bay, to show favour to her.
Dean is accused of misusing his position in Victoria Police to access police powers, premises and resources to represent that he was genuinely investigating a person for a criminal offence, when he was seeking to assist Zhang in a civil dispute, the court documents stated.
Another charge alleges Dean questioned a person under the guise that he was investigating a theft when he was seeking to help Zhang in a civil dispute and supplied Zhang with a recorded interview.
He also allegedly received two nights’ accommodation at Park Hyatt Hotel in Melbourne from Dimopoulos, in March 2019, as “an inducement to act in violation of his official duty” and show favour to him.
Dean further allegedly received two nights’ accommodation at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney in July 2019 and the services of a driver, a phone and cash from Dimopoulos.
The former detective is accused of providing false information to the magistrates’ court, misusing his powers by arresting someone over a civil debt, and in 2022 allegedly obtaining evidence of a burglary he was not investigating at National Storage in Thomastown and providing it to associates.
He is also accused of misusing his position to obtain sensitive information and providing that to associates, and of attending a pharmacy and under false claims he was investigating a fraud complaint.
Dean told the commission in May 2022 hearings that he received cash on an ad-hoc basis from Meletsis, about $200, but denied he was paid to do jobs.
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