Ali Aydin

On April 16, 2001, Reyn Rekhaviashili was arrested during an early morning raid on his hotel room in St Kilda.

It was later alleged Rekhviashvili offered a detective $35,000 to avoid having to face trial.

Rekhviashvili was taped giving the officer a $5000 down-payment on the alleged bribe, Melbourne Magistrates' was later told.

Sen-Constable Steve Trewavas later told a court that Rekhviashvili contacted him after the arrest offering the money in the safe in return for dropping or reducing some of the charges against him.

Ali Aydin, an articled clerk acting for Mr Rekhviashvili, and Sen-Constable Darrin Flett tried to persuade the St Kilda detective to a lesser charge, the court heard.

Mr Aydin and Sen-Constable Flett allegedly invited Sen-Constable Trewavas to a kickboxing match at the Vodaphone Arena a month later. 

On July 26, 2001, Reyn Rekhaviashili met Sen-Constable Trewavas and allegedly handed over the $5000 down-payment, as police secretly taped them.

Aydin and Sen-Constable Flett had invited Sen-Constable Steve Trewavas to a kickboxing match at the Vodaphone Arena.

The bribery allegations were heard in the Magistrates Court on May 15, 2002.

Flett was suspended from the police force without pay upon his arrest in October 2001.

On September 9, 2003, Melbourne's underworld war claimed another  victim with the brazen murder of notorious stand-over man Housam 'Sam' Zayat who was run off a road and shot in the head near Derrimut and Boundary Roads in Tarneit, west of Melbourne, at 10.30pm.

Zayat had left a halfway house in North Melbourne just after 10pm and was being driven to an address in the city's west to collect a debt from an associate when he was shot.

Zayat, 32, drove to a meeting with business associate Nicholas Ibrahim in an isolated paddock near the corner of Boundary and Derrimut Rds.

With Zayat was Ali Aydin.

Ibrahim had earlier agreed to buy Mr Zayat's share in the city nightclub Khokolat for $200,000, and Ibrahim had agreed to pay him a $20,000 cash deposit.

When the cars stopped Ibrahim got into Mr Zayat's car and a "short verbal exchange" took place followed by another outside the cars.

Ibrahim produced a pump-action shotgun and pulled the trigger, but the safety catch was on.

Ibrahim then chased a retreating Zayat as he ran around a tree and jumped a barbed wire fence.

Ibrahim then shoot at him five times.

Aydin, who had stayed in the car, a red Holden Commodore sedan, reversed into a tree after Ibrahim smashed the windscreen with the butt of the weapon.

Aydin fled, across paddocks,running about 12 kilometres to the Sunshine police station, where he is believed to have identified the gunman.

Police later found Mr Zayat's body with multiple gunshot wounds.

The gunman, driving what police described as a dark sedan, sped from the area.

A passing motorist reported to police he heard gunshots.

Police suspect Zayat also may have been an underworld killer.

Ibrahim allegedly told police he shot Mr Zayat as a result of threats to him and his family over the nightclub deal.

Ibrahim once helped raise a surety for Mr Zayat's bail and accompanied Zayat's family when they picked him up from jail.

Ibrahim was facing drug charges with five others, including two suspended police officers.

Their committal hearing was due to begin the following week.

Ibrahim was charged with Zayat's murder and jailed.

Aydin was sentenced along with Darrin Flett to five years jail on August 16, 2004.

Aydin and Flett were found guilty of trying to bribe Senior Detective Trewavas, one of Flett's colleagues at the St Kilda criminal investigation unit, in 2001.

Judge Carolyn Douglas said the pair had shown no remorse for their actions, which were deliberate and sought to undermine the criminal justice system on behalf of a drug trafficker.

The County Court was told that in April 2001, Flett told Senior Detective Trewavas that it could be beneficial to "look after" the drug trafficker.

Flett said there was $20,000 on offer and that he would take "five for the leg work".

In June 2001, Aydin - the offender's legal representative - told Senior Detective Trewavas that he would get the $20,000 for providing a favourable summary and falsely stating that his client was a police informer.

Judge Douglas said Aydin and Flett's methods were unsophisticated and noted that no money was handed over.

But she said that the offences were serious and the men had destroyed their careers.

Flett, who was suspended from the police force without pay, tendered his resignation after the jury's guilty verdict.

The court heard Aydin will be unable to again practise law in Victoria.

The former articled law clerk was already serving a 12-month prison term with a non-parole period of six months after he and a co-offender - notorious criminal Helmut Kirsch aka Gregory Middap - were found guilty of threatening another police officer in 2001.

Former senior detective Ben Archbold - who became a star of TV's Big Brother 3 - was subjected to the threats over a case involving standover men Zayat and Nik Radev, both victims of gangland murders.

On March 29, 2004, a jury heard that Ali Aydin threatened to sue Archbold if he did not reduce the number of criminal charges against his client.

The County Court was told that Helmut Kirsch, along with Ali Aydin, had threatened Archbold in July 2001 in a bid to influence the criminal case against Housam Zayat.

Prosecutor Andy Moore said Aydin and Kirsch were trying to frighten Mr Archbold so he would "go soft with their client".

The jury heard that Aydin "directly threatened" Mr Archbold with civil and criminal charges, and had also threatened to leak his address to Nik Radev, who was described as "an armed loose cannon".

Such "tactics" implemented by Aydin but "devised by Kirsch" had effectively "held a gun to the head" of Mr Archbold, Mr Moore said.

The threats included reporting Mr Archbold to police on corruption claims and fabricating evidence.

The court heard that after the threats were initially made, Mr Archbold was fitted with a recording device to tape further conversations with Aydin and Kirsch, who had allegedly told Mr Archbold that Radev was "violent" and "a lunatic".

Kirsch pleaded not guilty to one count of intending to pervert the course of public justice.

Aydin had been charged with the same offence as Kirsch, but had been tried separately.

Aydin and Flett, both of undisclosed addresses, were later convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of public justice.

Aydin's sentence was made cumulative upon his previous jail term, and the judge imposed a new non-parole period of three years.

Flett was told he must serve a minimum term of two-and-a-half years.

On March 7, 2005, Nicholas Ibrahim's committal hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates Court heard Aydin witnessed Ibrahim chase drug dealer Sam Zayat with a pump action shotgun and shoot him five times at Tarneit in 2003.

The court heard Aydin was then chased by Ibrahim but managed to escape through a paddock and alert police.

On March 8, 2005, Ali Aydin, and Nicholas Ibrahim came face to face in court.

Aydin was expected to give evidence in Ibrahim's committal hearing but told the magistrate he did not want to participate in the proceedings.

When he was called as a Crown witness, Aydin repeatedly refused to answer questions or take part in the hearing. He said he would not acknowledge his statement to police and wanted it withdrawn, but later he agreed he had signed it as true and correct.

His reasons for refusing to testify were suppressed.

The Magistrate warned Aydin he could face contempt of court charges.

The case was adjourned until the following week.

On June 6, 2005, Ali Aydin was jailed for refusing to give evidence against Ibrahim.

Aydin pleaded not guilty to a charge of contempt of court laid by magistrate Audrey Jamieson after the committal hearing in March.

Aydin, who is serving a sentence of three years with a minimum of 22 months for unrelated matters, pleaded not guilty to contempt.

Defence lawyer Ron Clark submitted that Aydin was under duress and there was insufficient evidence to prove the charge because the court had not heard all the facts.

Ms Jamieson said that Aydin "had the misfortune" of being a witness to an alleged murder, and had voluntarily made a police statement and was compelled to give evidence at the hearing.

She said that after he refused to answer direct questions he got legal advice and maintained his stance before later confirming his refusal to testify.

She described Aydin's contempt as intentional and deliberate. It had the potential to seriously disrupt the administration of justice.

Ms Jamieson sentenced Aydin to two months' jail, to be served cumulatively on his present sentence.

Ibrahim pleaded not guilty but was sent for trial on the charge of murder.