Source : the age
Thanks for following along as the ICAC heard evidence from Jeremy Greenwood about $1 million promises from Jean Nassif on pink pieces of paper and a “personal project” to discredit a Liberal MP.
The commission isn’t sitting tomorrow, so we’ll be back for more evidence from Greenwood on Wednesday.
Until then, let’s take a look at what we covered today:
- Greenwood told the corruption inquiry Jean Nassif promised to pay $1 million to Beckington for each of five projects he wanted them to fast-track, and the only record of this agreement was a scrawled note by a Toplace staffer on a “pink piece of paper” hidden in the back of her phone case.
- Beckington secured fast-track status for two projects, but Nassif had “buyers remorse” about paying the $2 million, Greenwood said, and would split payments into smaller cheques.
- Greenwood said Jean Nassif respected Charles Perrottet and was motivated to pay bills to Beckington if Perrottet threatened to stop giving the developer political updates.
- Greenwood said he wasn’t paid by Toplace to damage David Elliott’s political career, rather he and Sharangan Maheswaran saw it as a “personal project”.
- Greenwood and his business partner Christian Ellis were receiving substantial income through Beckington only a year after setting up the company, and were discussing buying a Ferrari or a Porsche when anticipating large payments would come in from Nassif, the inquiry heard.
Jeremy Greenwood has been asked to explain a message he sent to Jean Nassif’s offsider, Sharangan Maheswaran, suggesting that money being paid by the fugitive property developer was actually to support political work being done by Charles Perrottet.
Greenwood was chasing up unpaid money owed by Toplace when he wrote:
“What I want him to understand is yes, sure we are all friends, but Charles can’t keep exhausting the capital he has, which is on the which he gets on the back of other people’s work in the faction to build up, while then having to make excuses because our agreements weren’t honoured. Everyone worked their asses off for three years, from being the smallest faction with one spot on the executive, to now having the swinging votes and a say, and this makes it look like it’s all being used by Charles, or like Charles is secretly pocketing it all. He will be pushed out for (Matthew) Camenzuli or someone like Teena McQueen, and then we have no influence.”
Greenwood told the corruption inquiry that he was simply name-dropping Perrottet to encourage Nassif to make payments because he wanted the developer to believe the right faction of the Liberal Party was on the ascendancy.
“What was meant to happen is that some of the money coming into Beckington would be spent on recruitment for the right faction, correct?” Dwyer said.
“No, I disagree,” Greenwood said.
The public hearing has now adjourned and Greenwood will return for more evidence on Wednesday at 9:30am.
The ICAC has heard that a year after starting their consultancy firm Beckington, Jeremy Greenwood and Christian Ellis were doing well enough that cash flow wasn’t an issue.
“How good does the bank account look?” Greenwood texted Ellis.
Greenwood was also buying a Porsche at that time, the inquiry heard.
Around September 2020, Greenwood believed Jean Nassif had “buyer’s remorse” after promising to pay $1 million per successfully fast-tracked development. He said rather than receive the money broken down into smaller sums, he wanted Beckington to invoice and receive the full amount they had earned for work on two projects – being $2 million.
Instead, Nassif would provide smaller cheques.
Jeremy Greenwood has been asked to describe in detail a pink piece of paper that he claims was the only record ever made of a promise Jean Nassif made to pay $1 million per project if Beckington succeeded in getting the developments fast tracked.
Nassif made the offer at a meeting, Greenwood said, listing five projects he wanted fast tracked – a potential total of $5 million for Beckington. The only record of the deal was a note made by Toplace staffer Larissa Mouawad, Greenwood said, listing the projects with $1 million next to each project.
Peggy Dwyer, SC, asked Greenwood to describe the paper in detail. He thought it was likely larger than 10cm, and was folded over and placed inside Mouawad’s phone case.
“Was it hot pink, light pink? What sort of pink?” Dwyer asked.
Jeremy Greenwood has told the corruption inquiry that he regrets not keeping records of agreements made with Jean Nassif as the ICAC investigates large sums paid by the developer allegedly in exchange for political outcomes.
Greenwood said large payments made to his company Beckington were in recognition of help they gave in securing a fast-track process for two Toplace development projects dubbed Garthowen and Macquarie.
“But there’s nothing in writing to reflect that, correct?” Peggy Dwyer, SC, asked.
“No,” Greenwood said.
Peggy Dwyer, SC, has suggested to Jeremy Greenwood that his jokes to his business partner, Christian Ellis, are actually revealing about his arrangement with Jean Nassif.
Dwyer read out texts between Greenwood and Ellis discussing what should be communicated to Nassif at a meeting.
“Explain the right and left working together to f— over CR (centre right) again,” Greenwood said.
“They also want to know how the reshuffle is looking and the chances of getting rid of David’s ministry.”
To explain Greenwood’s absence from the meeting, Ellis joked: “managing the staff for recruiters is getting tough” and “Elliott has offered them double to recruit for him”, which Greenwood said was a joke.
“But what you’re actually doing here is explaining your strategy, isn’t it? You’ve got Premier National going in the front door as the formal lobbyist, but what you’re doing is the dark arts, on behalf of Jean Nassif, isn’t that correct?” Dwyer asked.
Greenwood did not agree.
Just as the commission comes back from lunch break, let’s take a quick look at some of the things we learnt from Operation Rosny week six.
Doctor, doctor, give me the news
Nassif had been due to appear on Friday via video link from Lebanon, where he has been since fleeing Australia in December 2022.
There is a warrant out for his arrest on serious fraud charges, which makes a return to Australia unlikely.
Jeremy Greenwood has struggled to answer questions around advice given to Toplace to join the Property Council, which Charles Perrottet earlier told the ICAC was advice that came from him.
Greenwood has told the corruption inquiry he probably told Toplace to join the council as a way to ensure their projects were considered for a fast-track program.
Peggy Dwyer, SC, suggested this then had nothing to do with Perrottet, who said this piece of advice was partly what earned him large sums of money from Beckington to be paid to his wife Anita.
Greenwood said he was confused by some of the messages and dates being shown to him in evidence.
“Can I suggest to you that you hide behind confusion until you’re presented with messages that clearly show you the true situation? Isn’t that the case?” Dwyer asked.
“No, I don’t hide behind confusion … this is six years ago … I think you can probably tell from our engagement with Toplace that it was often very, very, frantic. So I’m just trying to piece things together,” Greenwood said.
Jeremy Greenwood has been asked to explain if his company Beckington was paying someone an hourly rate for work to recruit new members of the Liberal Party.
Peggy Dwyer, SC, read out messages between Christian Ellis and Greenwood discussing paying an individual a $24.50 hourly rate for eight hours of work.
Greenwood tells Ellis he asked the employee “don’t do any work, just focus on renewals”.
“Does that refresh your memory that money from Beckington was being used at that time to pay people for renewing memberships at the Liberal Party?” Dwyer asked.
“No. Look, I can only speculate that I’ve passed on the message,” Greenwood said.
Peggy Dwyer, SC, is now asking Jeremy Greenwood about a goal he shared with Sharangan Maheswaran to share negative stories about the Liberal MP David Elliott, to discredit him.
“It was a personal project of ours,” Greenwood said.
The ICAC is investigating if fugitive property developer Jean Nassif paid Liberal Party figures in exchange for political outcomes, including damage to Elliott’s career.
Dwyer then took Greenwood to a text messages he received in 2020 from Maheswaran, a Toplace staffer and one-time Labor councillor on Strathfield Council.
