Playboy lifestyle over for Fadi Ibrahim

THE playboy lifestyle of shot Sydney identity Fadi Ibrahim could be over as doctors battle to save his arm.

As police hunt the man that shot him as he sat with his girlfriend Shayda Bastani in his Lamborghini, information has emerged tying Ibrahim to loan-sharking.

Sources last night said the loan-sharking operation could provide a motive for his attempted murder.

Fadi has been the target of the Crime Commission, with action to recover proceeds of crime against him and brother Michael Ibrahim.

In 2005, the Crime Commission launched separate action against Fadi, who was at first excused from being quizzed in the Supreme Court due to him serving periodic detention for threatening a witness.

A settlement was reached between Ibrahim and the commission the following year.

Sources said that Fadi's assets included his $2 million house at Castle Cove but this did not explain $3 million found in the roof of his sister Maha Sayour's home in April, with the Crime Commission about to launch a third action against Fadi to recover alleged proceeds of crime.

As he remained in an induced coma under police guard last night, Fadi's elder brother John visited him at Royal North Shore Hospital.

Brothers Adam and David Freeman, the sons of former "colourful Sydney racing identity" George Freeman and close friends to the Ibrahim family, also visited.

It is believed Fadi will be brought out of his coma at the weekend.

Ibrahim, 35, also faces wearing a colostomy bag for the rest of his life after surgery on Sunday removed part of his intestines.

One underworld source told The Daily Telegraph yesterday while Michael Ibrahim ran a drug operation involving cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy, Fadi also "lends money with interest. Say he gives you $100,000 for six months, you pay him interest every month and after six months you owe $130,000," the source said.

It is understood the eldest Ibrahim brother, Sam, facing charges of abducting and assaulting a 15-year-old boy, has been moved to Goulburn's Supermax following his brother's attempted murder.

Theories about the motive for Ibrahim's shooting range from a war between the Bandidos and Notorious, which has involved a series of shootings in Sydney's southwest and west earlier this year, to unpaid debts to some of Sydney's biggest gangsters.

Police are not discussing possible suspects, which often suggests they are close to a breakthrough.

There has been widespread speculation in criminal and police circles that Fadi's wealth skyrocketed in the past two years via his alleged links to amphetamine manufacture along with his younger brother Michael, who is in jail for manslaughter.