ICAC's Operation Rosny: Five stand-out moments from the inquiry
The NSW corruption watchdog has finished its public hearings into allegations that a fugitive property developer paid Liberal Party operatives to favour his developments. The ICAC inquiry, codenamed Operation Rosny, will now consider the evidence before delivering its findings.
For two months, the NSW corruption watchdog has been investigating allegations that a fugitive property developer paid Liberal Party operatives to achieve political outcomes that would favour his developments.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) inquiry, codenamed Operation Rosny, has drawn its public hearings to a close, having sifted through thousands of pages of documents and financial records, played bombshell phone taps, and heard evidence from 20 witnesses.
Five stand-out moments from the inquiry
The allegations at the centre of the inquiry have not been proven, and ICAC will now consider the evidence before delivering its findings.
The fired-up fugitive
Disgraced property developer Jean Nassif was not expected to appear under the ICAC spotlight, but he eventually dialled into the inquiry from his bedroom in Beirut, Lebanon, and gave evidence over two afternoons.
"I am not involved with paying politics to get my projects approved," he told the inquiry. "I employed consultants to support me."
"If they did any corrupt work, I am not involved with it. I was not aware of it," Mr Nassif said.
"No. No. No. No. No. No. No one can make me shut up. If … you guys not going to attack the problems in this investigation, I need to pull out," Mr Nassif shouted back at one point.
The phone taps
The commission played a series of phone taps, including one in which Mr Nassif gloated to an associate about his apparent influence on then-NSW premier Dominic Perrottet.
"my boy… took the premiership," Mr Nassif said in the call.
In a separate call, Mr Nassif offered $100,000 to support the Liberal preselection of one of Dominic Perrottet's brothers, Jean-Claude.
"Can you give the 100 [$100,000] to your brother, to Jeremy or to Chris?" Mr Nassif said in the call.
The right-wing Liberal movement
The Reformers, a conservative Christian faction, appeared most comfortable operating in the backroom of the NSW Liberal Party.
The inquiry heard about their efforts to recruit members, influence branch numbers, and build factional power.
Christian Ellis and Robert Assaf founded the Reformers network.
The $660,999 question and 'mum's perspective'
The money trail eventually led to a "consulting" arrangement worth $660,999 for the wife of one of the Reformers.
Anita Perrottet, wife of Charles Perrottet and sister-in-law of Dominic Perrottet, received the large payments over about two-and-a-half years.
"That's an enormous amount of money to be paid for circumstances where you cannot produce a scrap of evidence in relation to work done," counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer SC put to Ms Perrottet.
"The mum's perspective is so important. It's what everybody in politics looks for," Jeremy Greenwood told ICAC.
The factory reset
Dallas McInerney made a startling revelation during his evidence, revealing he had wiped his CSNSW work phone and iPad.
"Did you talk to your solicitors in relation to performing a factory reset and what the implications of that were?" Dr Dwyer asked.
"No," Mr McInerney replied.