Jean Nassif pulls out of ICAC appearance but vows to reschedule

Fugitive property developer Jean Nassif has provided a medical certificate excusing him from giving evidence on Friday to a blockbuster corruption inquiry probing whether he gave $2 million to Liberal operatives in exchange for political favours.

One of those operatives is the former right-wing Liberal powerbroker Charles Perrottet, who told the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Tuesday he was telling a lie when he promised Nassif over dinner at Nobu in May 2021 he could get building commissioner David Chandler “off his back”.

Perrottet was also lying, he said, when he relayed to Nassif’s lawyer Sharangan Maheswaran that he had told the developer at that dinner he would bring his nemesis, then Liberal MP David Elliott, “to his knees”.

Nassif was due to appear via video link from Lebanon on Friday, where he has been since fleeing Australia in December 2022. There is a warrant out for his arrest on serious fraud charges.

Counsel assisting Dr Peggy Dwyer, SC, told the commission late on Tuesday that Nassif had provided a medical certificate and wanted to reschedule.

His appearance was due days before his daughter Ashlyn Nassif will be sentenced for falsifying documents to secure a $150 million Westpac loan for the construction of apartment towers in Sydney’s north-west.

Perrottet, who was due to finish at the ICAC on Tuesday, will instead return to the commission on Thursday to continue another day of evidence. On Tuesday he was pressed on what promises he made Nassif in return for payments.

In a text message Perrottet sent to Maheswaran days after his dinner with Nassif, Perrottet said: “I told Jean that the best way to get the building commissioner off his back is to take the fight to [David] Elliott and dismantle his infrastructure. If we can get 189 and Garthowen payments, we can take Parra, Hills, Cumberland councils, and the seat of Castle Hill and completely isolate him. As a result, he’ll be on his knees.”

The references to “189” and “Garthowen” relate to Toplace developments that Beckington, the company owned by Perrottet’s friends Jeremy Greenwood and Christian Ellis, was working on.

Perrottet said he was not seeking payments for himself but rather was keen to chase up money he believed Greenwood and Ellis were owed by Nassif.

Perrottet also insisted his wife Anita did not lie to the commission, despite conflicting evidence from the couple about why they were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He said his wife’s company Macquarie Consulting received money as remuneration for advice he had given to help his friend Greenwood with Nassif and Toplace.

This was despite Anita telling the commission Perrottet did not do any work for Macquarie Consulting, and the only client she had was Greenwood’s company Beckington, which subcontracted her to give “strategic advice” on Greyhound Racing NSW.

Anita’s evidence was that neither she nor her husband ever did any work to benefit Toplace, and all the money she received from Beckington was solely for work for Greyhound Racing NSW.

Dwyer asked Perrottet to explain why he never mentioned his arrangement with Beckington in previous private hearings with the commission, and why no other people involved in the arrangement, including Anita, ever mentioned this before.

“Did your wife then lie to the commission last week about the amount that was, in fact, covering your advice?” Dwyer asked.

“No, as I said to you, I’m not sure how much I disclosed to Anita,” Perrottet said.

Perrottet previously told the ICAC he and Anita sent invoices from Macquarie Consulting together, at the direction of Greenwood’s business partner Christian Ellis.

“Did you just want to patronise Anita so that she thought she was genuinely charging for this work when in fact it was your advice?” Dwyer asked.

“No, not at all. She was doing a lot of good work,” Perrottet said.

Perrottet also told the commission the payments his wife received for an average of 16 hours a week of work was not a significant amount.

He said he and his wife were instructed to hold off sending invoices for work Anita was doing because Beckington was having “cash-flow problems”.

Macquarie Consulting was paid $150,000 for a year’s worth of advice, the ICAC heard.

Perrottet told the commission, “$150,000 for a year’s worth of work I don’t think is a significant amount of money.”

Dwyer asked: “You don’t think it’s a significant amount of money for part-time work, for 16 hours a week, on a flexible level?”

Perrottet responded: “Value is in the eye of the beholder. If there were value, if Jeremy [Greenwood] had seen value in the work, he was paying accordingly.”