Police had arrived at the share house where the former transport bureaucrat was laying low, living discreetly with strangers after failing to appear before a major corruption probe.
He had paid the $175 weekly rent in cash for the unit in Sydney's southwest as, month by month, he watched his $40,000 departmental termination payment steadily dwindle.
It was the only time the 38-year-old had lived away from his parents, aside from 18 months on the NSW coast shortly after he joined the transport department in 2010.
But reality came knocking on the afternoon of September 26, as police opened a cupboard door to find the man at the centre of an alleged multimillion-dollar kickbacks scheme.
"I was getting something from the cupboard," Mr Helmy told a NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing on Tuesday.
"And I guess..."
Offered a second opportunity, the former department procurement category specialist agreed he had been "hiding".
Mr Helmy has been in custody since his arrest as ICAC investigators seek to avoid a repeat of his earlier disappearance that disrupted their inquiry into kickbacks for contracts worth more than $343 million.
He has not been criminally charged but the inquiry has heard allegations he personally received more than $11.5 million.
Contracts were inflated and contractors split the extra funds with transport officials, making payments in cash, cryptocurrency and gold at fast-food outlets and service stations, the inquiry has heard.
It is alleged Mr Helmy formed corrupt relationships with several other agency contractors and colleagues.
Giving evidence on Tuesday under objection with no legal representation, he revealed he had been watching a live-stream of the proceedings when the inquiry opened public hearings in July.
"Did you also hear me say in that opening that a warrant had been issued for your apprehension?" counsel assisting Rob Ranken SC asked Mr Helmy.
"Yes," the witness replied.
"Did you hear me say it was expected that it was only a matter of time before you were located ... did you hear me urge you to come forward of your own volition?" Mr Ranken asked.
"I don't recall hearing that," Mr Helmy said, telling the inquiry he was planning to turn himself in before his arrest.
He failed to appear for an examination in May and his family said he had not returned from taking out the bins one Sunday night.
In December, Mr Helmy was picked up at Sydney Airport with a US passport while he was waiting for a flight to China.
The commission held his Australian passport as he was part-way through a compulsory examination at the time.
He was brought before the corruption watchdog the next day before being released on the condition he appear again in May, when he failed to show up.
Mr Helmy kept receiving his full salary until his leave was paid out and his employment was terminated in December over inappropriate use of the department's Microsoft Teams messaging platform.
He is expected to continue giving evidence throughout the week as the public hearings delve deeper into the alleged kickback scheme.
The most recent hearings in August took evidence from Peter Le, a procurement and contracts officer accused of "actively" collaborating with Mr Helmy, to whom he reported.
The probe is the fourth public inquiry since 2019 into claims of corruption in procurement at Transport for NSW, which is responsible for a $23 billion annual budget.
11°C