Phone of Catholic Schools NSW boss could be seized by ICAC after weekend ‘surrender’

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Catholic Schools NSW boss Dallas McInerney has denied helping his factional allies secure lucrative contracts which ultimately funded a major branch-stacking operation, as the powerful administrator faces his third day in the witness box at the corruption watchdog.

McInerney told the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Wednesday he did not do anything out of the ordinary in hiring a new firm, Beckington, to do work for the taxpayer-funded organisation.

He also revealed his phone had been “surrendered” to his employer over the weekend but did not say why that had occurred several weeks into the ICAC’s probe. The ICAC commissioner Fabian Gleeson, SC, flagged the prospect that the phone and any potential messages on it could be seized.

McInerney’s evidence is the final element of the first phase of Operation Rosny, which is investigating allegations of illegal political donations and government corruption. The commission will on Thursday turn to explosive claims that fugitive Sydney developer Jean Nassif paid a $2 million bribe to three Liberal Party figures.

The ICAC alleges McInerney abused his position at Catholic Schools NSW and potentially broke donation laws by directing hundreds of thousands of dollars towards a conservative Christian sub-faction known as the Reformers. He has stood aside from his role for the duration of the inquiry.

Investigators claim up to $265,000 in schools funding was diverted to two companies: Beckington and JPG Advisory. Beckington was run by Christian Ellis, a key figure behind the Reformers. The other partner in the business was lobbyist and former political staffer Jeremy Greenwood.

The ICAC has said Beckington and JPG did little or no work for Catholic Schools NSW, and monthly retainers and sign-on fees were instead used to prop up the work of the Reformers.

Counsel assisting the commission Dr Peggy Dwyer, SC, put a series of messages to McInerney on Wednesday which she said proved he was intent on helping his friends and political allies secure work with Catholic Schools NSW.

Pushed on whether McInerney struck the deal with a company with “no runs on the board” due to his factional alliances with Ellis and Greenwood, the Catholic Schools chief said that was not true.

“No, the factional alliance allegiance didn’t feature in the consideration for professional services,” he said.

“There was an acute policy need inside the NSW government. Beckington was uniquely qualified to help me respond to that and that was one of my primary motivations for signing them when I did.”

The ICAC claims funding for the Reformers between 2019 and 2023 ultimately benefited the Liberal Party and therefore constitutes a political donation. McInerney has repeatedly denied knowledge of such a scheme.

Dwyer said on Wednesday there was very little written evidence Beckington did any substantive work for Catholic Schools NSW – a claim McInerney disputed.

McInerney said he most likely had a function set on his phone which automatically deleted messages with Ellis and Greenwood.

“Why would you have disappearing messages set on a WhatsApp communication between yourself and an external service provider?” Dwyer asked.

McInerney replied: “It was general practice for me to have disappearing messages for most of my communications.”

Of the four core members of the Reformers, three – Jean-Claude Perrottet, Rob Assaf and Dylan Whitelaw – worked for McInerney.

Jean-Claude, the younger brother of former premier Dominic Perrottet, was hired by Catholic Schools NSW in a $165,000 role at the same time he flew to Fiji in 2023 to avoid being served a summons to appear before a parliamentary inquiry. The former premier is not accused of any wrongdoing.

Whitelaw told the ICAC last month it was a “running joke” within the organisation that some staff members were doing Liberal Party work while in the office.

Whitelaw eventually spent part of his time while in the Catholic Schools NSW office assigned to “Dallas projects” – a code he and others used for work that involved supporting the ambitions of the Reformers.