Qld fraudster liable for deportation

A 71-year-old serial fraudster is liable for deportation after being sentenced to three-and-a-half years behind bars for cheating Centrelink out of almost $90,000.

Michael Boghdadi Asaad was sentenced to the prison term, which the court heard exceeds the 12-month duration required for his spousal visa to be cancelled under immigration law, in the Brisbane District Court on Thursday.

Family members left the courtroom and sobbed when the sentence for what crown prosecutor Bruce Mumford described as a "calculated and sophisticated and determined fraud" was read out.

During the trial, the jury heard Asaad had received payments over a seven-year period totalling $89,161 on the basis he was born in Australia.

But evidence suggested he'd arrived in the country in 1985 using a Canadian passport under a different name but applied for and received the payments under a false identity.

Judge Helen Bowskill said he had a "very significant" criminal history involving offences of dishonesty, noting convictions for fraud and crimes relating to being an undischarged bankrupt.

Asaad had also been sentenced to 18 months behind bars in 2009 for taking more than $50,000 from someone on the proviso he was going to buy them shares but keeping it, she said.

"Your criminal history and the circumstances of the offence in this case reveals an ingrained dishonesty," she said.

However, she also accepted submissions that the 71-year-old man suffered from a heart condition, diabetes and had a hernia that hadn't yet been operated on.

Asaad had also played an important role in caring for his autistic son, the court heard.

Nevertheless, he was sentenced to the three-and-a-half-year term with parole eligibility set after 13 months.

Judge Bowskill also declared 192 days already spent in custody, including 95 in immigration detention, as time already served.

Australia's migration laws stipulate anyone currently serving a full-time custodial sentence who has been sentenced to 12 months or more imprisonment, regardless of time actually served, must have their visa cancelled.

The individual then has 28 days to request revocation of this decision if their visa is cancelled in these circumstances.