Nedal Haouchar and his family regularly travel overseas, and his lack of a return ticket was to provide flexibility as it was not yet determined when his family would be joining him due to a health issue, his barrister told a NSW Supreme Court bail hearing on Thursday.
"You put to me I should not draw any adverse inference … otherwise the inference is readily available from a person leaving Sydney with a one-way ticket, that they have no intention of returning," Justice Peter Garling said.
Haouchar's barrister said if he was trying to flee he would have done it earlier, as his house had been searched eight months prior to his November arrest.
There was nothing suggesting his arrest was imminent and it was likely triggered by his arrival at the airport, Haouchar's barrister said.
There was also no actual evidence of Haouchar's involvement in the offending of his alleged co-accused.
"The case against this man could not be described as strong," Haouchar's barrister said.
Prosecutors alleged there were voice recordings of him giving orders, and the delay between the search of his home and his arrest was because police had "done the proper thing" and investigated before arresting him.
"He is the person who is telling the co-accused where to supply the drugs, what to do with the money, and he's the person pulling the strings, so a higher role," the crown prosecutor told the court, opposing Haouchar's bail.
Haouchar remains in custody awaiting the judge's decision, which he promised on Thursday to deliver "as soon as I possibly can".
Police announced Haouchar's arrest along with 27 other people as part of a large-scale investigation "targeting one of the most powerful organised criminal networks in Australian history" in November.
He has been charged with supply prohibited drugs, dealing with proceeds of crime, and knowingly directing a criminal group, with the matter returning to Downing Centre Local Court in January.
