Source : the age
Hello and welcome to another day of the ICAC’s Operation Rosny live hearings.
I’m state political reporter Jessica McSweeney and along with the Herald’s team of senior writers, we’ll be bringing you all the news as it happens from inside the hearing.
Today we’re hearing evidence from former fair trading minister Eleni Petinos and her former chief of staff Cassandra Lawry. Before then, let’s take a look at what we covered yesterday:
- Dallas McInerney wiped his phone and iPad with a factory reset the weekend before returning the devices to Catholic Schools NSW, he says, after his bank alerted him to an issue with security on his bank account. Counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer, SC, suggested it was a “transparent attempt to wipe evidence”, which McInerney denied.
- McInerney said he handed his devices back to Catholic Schools NSW because he understood it was unlikely he would be returning to work.
- Dwyer said investigators had struggled to find any substantive documentation of work done by Beckington or JPG Advisory, which the ICAC is investigating in connection with allegations Catholic Schools NSW money was funnelled into the pockets of Liberal Party factional operators. McInerney said most of the work was done in meetings or over the phone, which was “safer”.
- McInerney discussed Liberal Party matters and his own political ambitions with Jeremy Greenwood, who ran JPG Advisory.
- McInerney sent a draft position description and negotiated with Jean-Claude Perrottet about a job at Catholic Schools NSW, at least partly while Perrottet was avoiding a parliamentary inquiry by travelling to Fiji.
Eleni Petinos is the second of Kellie Sloane’s opposition frontbench to be called to give evidence in the ICAC’s public hearings, but unlike her colleague Damien Tudehope she hasn’t stood aside from her role during the investigation.
Petinos is currently on maternity leave, but holds the shadow jobs and industry portfolio. Sloane has not asked her to stand aside. She was not named as a person of interest to the inquiry.
Phone taps played during the opening address of counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer, SC, captured Nassif bragging about his alleged influence over the former state government. He told his associate he was confident his enemy, then-building commissioner David Chandler, would be removed.
“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?”
The first three weeks of hearings focused on the role of the Reformers and contracts with Catholic Schools NSW, which the ICAC is investigating as allegedly unlawful political donations. Now the corruption probe is moving onto its next target – fugitive property developer Jean Nassif.
The commission is investigating allegations Nassif made unlawful donations to Liberal Party figures, including Charles Perrottet (brother of former premier Dominic), Christian Ellis and Jeremy Greenwood.
These factional operators are accused of taking or soliciting this money to support their branch stacking work in exchange for pursuing outcomes favourable to Nassif, including damaging the political career of former Baulkham Hills MP David Elliott, and removing then-building commissioner David Chandler from office.
This video is a helpful recap of the key allegations being investigated by the ICAC from senior writer Alexandra Smith:
Hello and welcome to another day of the ICAC’s Operation Rosny live hearings.
I’m state political reporter Jessica McSweeney and along with the Herald’s team of senior writers, we’ll be bringing you all the news as it happens from inside the hearing.
Today we’re hearing evidence from former fair trading minister Eleni Petinos and her former chief of staff Cassandra Lawry. Before then, let’s take a look at what we covered yesterday:
- Dallas McInerney wiped his phone and iPad with a factory reset the weekend before returning the devices to Catholic Schools NSW, he says, after his bank alerted him to an issue with security on his bank account. Counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer, SC, suggested it was a “transparent attempt to wipe evidence”, which McInerney denied.
- McInerney said he handed his devices back to Catholic Schools NSW because he understood it was unlikely he would be returning to work.
- Dwyer said investigators had struggled to find any substantive documentation of work done by Beckington or JPG Advisory, which the ICAC is investigating in connection with allegations Catholic Schools NSW money was funnelled into the pockets of Liberal Party factional operators. McInerney said most of the work was done in meetings or over the phone, which was “safer”.
- McInerney discussed Liberal Party matters and his own political ambitions with Jeremy Greenwood, who ran JPG Advisory.
- McInerney sent a draft position description and negotiated with Jean-Claude Perrottet about a job at Catholic Schools NSW, at least partly while Perrottet was avoiding a parliamentary inquiry by travelling to Fiji.
