Three NSW Liberal apparatchiks struck a lucrative deal with fugitive Sydney developer Jean Nassif to be paid $2 million to help the accused fraudster have the then-building commissioner sacked and a cabinet minister dumped, explosive evidence to a corruption inquiry has revealed.
In a sensational opening statement in the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s investigation into Nassif’s links to the Liberal Party, counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer, SC, detailed an elaborate donations scheme designed to benefit the developer and his now defunct company Toplace.
As well as having then-building commissioner David Chandler removed from office, Nassif wanted to damage the political career of former police minister and Baulkham Hills MP David Elliott, Dwyer told the commission.
A phone tap was played to the commission where Nassif was heard boasting that he had achieved his goal, saying: “I banish [sic] his seat … there is no Baulkham Hills faction any more. There is no seat.” Baulkham Hills was abolished in a boundary redistribution.
Another phone intercept suggested Nassif had advance warning of a cabinet reshuffle after Dominic Perrottet became premier in October 2021, seemingly aware that frontbencher Eleni Petinos would replace then-fair trading minister Kevin Anderson.
“I’m gonna step on his neck and strip him from his job,” Nassif was heard saying in reference to Chandler. “Just give me two months, because the consumer affairs minister, she’s gonna be my girl, and the fair trading minister, she’s gonna be one of my girls too, you know?”
Two months after the recording, Perrottet replaced Anderson with Petinos in a cabinet reshuffle. By the beginning of 2022, Chandler had resigned following an investigation into him ordered by Petinos’ office.
The commission was told Nassif met party operatives Jeremy Greenwood, Christian Ellis and Charles Perrottet on April 25, 2020.
Dwyer said evidence would emerge showing that following that meeting, it was agreed that Nassif would pay Greenwood, Ellis and Charles Perrottet “large sums of money to support their recruitment of members and/or renewal of memberships in the Hills, so as to secure control over Liberal Party preselections.”
“This would, in turn, enable Mr Nassif to influence The Hills Shire Council and achieve other political objectives,” she said. Dwyer said evidence will show that Ellis, Greenwood and Charles Perrottet anticipated receiving $2 million from Nassif to split evenly between them.
Dwyer also has revealed the ICAC was made aware of allegations concerning Nassif and Liberal Party figures not only via a June 2022 bombshell speech to state parliament by Liberal MP Ray Williams, but also by NSW Police.
The day before Williams outlined to parliament allegations of corruption within his party, police showed the ICAC legally intercepted WhatsApp messages from Nassif’s phone detailing contact with two brothers of former premier Dominic Perrottet – Charles and Jean-Claude. Dominic is not accused of any wrongdoing.
“WhatsApp conversations and telephone interception indicated that Charles Perrottet may have used his position within the Liberal Party to benefit the business interests of Mr Nassif,” Dwyer said.
“Lawfully intercepted information also indicated that Mr Nassif had an association with not one but two of Dominic Perrottet’s brothers.”
She said the phone taps indicated that Nassif was seeking to leverage their connections with Dominic to assist in having Chandler removed from his position.
“Mr Nassif wanted the building commissioner removed because he had been focused on defects in a number of Toplace developments, and was standing in the way of Mr Nassif’s developments being certified,” Dwyer said.
Phone taps played during the opening address on Monday, including with Jean-Claude Perrottet, captured Nassif bragging about his influence over the former state government and boasting that the party’s hard right faction had announced “Jean Nassif is our godfather”.
Catholic Schools NSW, and its boss Dallas McInerney who is a right-wing Liberal powerbroker, will also feature in the inquiry.
Dwyer told the commission Catholic Schools NSW, under the direction of McInerney, paid Greenwood’s government relations company Beckington more than $130,000 over two years “in circumstances where there appears to be little or no evidence of substantive work being done to justify that amount”.
When those payments stopped, Catholic Schools NSW began paying JPG Advisory, another Greenwood-linked company. Those payments amounted to $135,000, Dwyer said.
The commission is investigating the allegation that NSW Reformers figures including Robert Assaf, Jean-Claude Perrottet and Dylan Whitelaw were given lucrative employment contracts with Catholic Schools NSW.
These were allegedly arranged by McInerney on the understanding that some of that time would be used for work recruiting Liberal branch members.
Dwyer said she anticipates submitting to the inquiry that these payments were gifts under the Electoral Funding Act and “were made in purported payment of retainers for which no or no substantive services were provided, or which amounted to a sham”.
Dwyer said the commission will investigate allegations Reformers figures knew the donations amounted to a sham. She read out a text message from Greenwood to Jean-Claude Perrottet: “Hey, so you know how I’m good to you and help you and give you all your filthy schools money, and put up with your f—ing whining.”
Dwyer also outlined the role the NSW Reformers played in the donations scheme, which was designed to not only stack branches with members who would support Nassif’s development proposals but also mount a conservative takeover of the NSW Liberals.
The first witness to appear on Monday was hotelier Michael O’Hara, who told the commission that he believed he was giving money to the NSW Reformers as a group that aligned with his conservative values. He said he would not consider donating to the NSW Liberals because they had become “a bit toxic”.
O’Hara, who was a long-time business partner of Liberal frontbencher Damien Tudehope, said he stopped supporting the former premier Dominic Perrottet because he had gone “woke” and was seen to be too progressive in his social views.
The 83-year-old was asked about payments his company made to Beckington for “strategic wealth strategy investment advice.” O’Hara conceded he did not receive such advice.
O’Hara said in his view the consultancy “was that he was to go and do his [Ellis’] best to get my conservative values into the Liberal Party”.
Dwyer told the commission that three witnesses had so far declined to provide evidence to the inquiry, including Nassif, who fled to live in rural Lebanon. There is a warrant out for his arrest over serious fraud offences.
Ellis is living in London, and he told the commission that his family commitments and time zones make it difficult for him to provide evidence, Dwyer said.
Dwyer said Ellis has been told that the commission would be prepared to hear his evidence via video link at a time that suits him. Meanwhile, James Tudehope, the son of Liberal frontbench MP Damien Tudehope, who once worked for Catholic Schools NSW, has moved to New Zealand.
James Tudehope has “liaised with various persons named in the allegations” but has not agreed to provide evidence.
“He is in close contact with his father and is legally represented in these proceedings,” Dwyer said. “He is aware that the commission would like to speak with him and has declined to assist by giving oral evidence in this public inquiry.”
Damien Tudehope has stood aside from his frontbench position while the inquiry is under way. He is not accused of any wrongdoing but will be called as a witness.
Asked about the future of Petinos in shadow cabinet, a spokeswoman from Liberal Leader Kellie Sloane’s office said: “It would be inappropriate to comment on matters that arise during the ICAC hearings or to engage in speculation while proceedings are under way.
“Everyone involved is entitled to procedural fairness, and we will respect the integrity of the ICAC process.” Petinos is currently on maternity leave.
The inquiry will also look at allegations that two Labor Strathfield councillors, Sharangan Maheswaran and Karen Pensabene, engaged in conduct towards a fellow councillor, Matthew Blackmore, in a way “that involves the dishonest or partial exercise of their official functions and/or a breach of public trust, including conduct which could involve blackmail” and possible breaches of the Surveillance Devices Act.
Maheswaran was formerly Nassif’s lawyer and an executive at Toplace.
With Michael McGowan
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Alexandra Smith is a senior writer and former state political editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
Jessica McSweeney is a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald covering state politics and urban affairs.Connect via email.
