‘Joint criminal enterprise?’ Charles Perrottet denies colluding with wife to hide payments

One-time Liberal Party powerbroker Charles Perrottet has been accused of tailoring his evidence to a corruption inquiry and “tying himself in knots” after he had previously said under oath that he had not helped his political allies with their dealings with fugitive property developer Jean Nassif.

Perrottet returned on Monday to give evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, where he said he leveraged his good relationship with Nassif to help Jeremy Greenwood and Christian Ellis pursue money owed to their company Beckington.

Perrottet also told the inquiry that his wife, Anita, received ongoing payments through her business Macquarie Consulting as remuneration for advice he gave to Greenwood to help Nassif, which included telling Greenwood to join the Property Council and about ways to fast-track developments.

However, counsel assisting Dr Peggy Dwyer, SC, presented the evidence Perrottet had given in 2025 during a private ICAC hearing, where he was asked if he provided any assistance to Beckington for the work they did for Nassif’s construction company Toplace.

“I didn’t assist them, I don’t believe I ever assisted them with the work, but I was certainly providing advice to Jean on how to proceed on certain things,” Perrottet said in 2025.

He did not mention during that hearing that his wife received ongoing payments as a result of advice he had given to Greenwood for Toplace.

Dwyer suggested Perrottet created a story about the advice to Greenwood, and said his 2025 evidence “just doesn’t fit” with what he told the commission on Monday.

“I suggest what you are doing at the moment is tailoring your evidence on the basis of what you are seeing being put to other witnesses, including Anita,” Dwyer said. Perrottet rejected this.

Perrottet was also pressed on why he was so involved with invoices sent out by his wife’s company, which “chopped and changed”, sometimes including large bonuses and often changed structure.

Those payments were “holistic”, Perrottet told the commission, meaning they contained payments for both husband and wife. The invoices were structured the way Ellis wanted them, Perrottet said.

Perrottet said he was happy for his wife to invoice for payments he had earned through advice he had given to Beckington, even though he did not pay income tax on the money and his name does not appear on the invoice.

Dwyer asked: “Did it occur to you that Anita was in effect obtaining a benefit by deception in setting out the invoices in this way?” Perrottet responded: “No.”

She then asked: “Did it occur to you that you might be participating in a joint criminal enterprise?”

“No,” Perrottet said.

Greenwood and Ellis, along with Perrottet, are persons of interest in this inquiry, which is investigating whether Nassif, who has fled to Lebanon and is wanted on serious fraud charges, gave illegal donations to the Liberal Party. Nassif will appear from Beirut via video link on Friday.

Perrottet told the commission earlier on Monday that he was at the Longueville Hotel in January 2021 when Sharangan Maheswaran, a lawyer for Nassif, passed Greenwood or Ellis a cheque for Beckington. Maheswaran is also a person of interest.

Perrottet said he did not ask his friends how much money was on the cheque. They met at the pub because it was close to home, Perrottet said, and he needed somewhere nearby as he was flying to Melbourne the next day. When asked if he had a memory of the cheque being handed over to Greenwood or Ellis, Perrottet said he believed that had happened.

Dwyer then showed Perrottet pictures taken on his phone the morning after the pub meeting. There was a photo of the envelope, addressed to Beckington, with the figure of $148,000 written on the front.

“If the money was handed over … as you just said on oath, at the Longueville Hotel, then there would be no reason for you to be taking a photograph of it the next morning, would there?” Dwyer asked.

“No, you are correct. I’m obviously mistaken,” Perrottet said.

Perrottet then provided evidence that perhaps Greenwood was not at the pub meeting after all, and that maybe Perrottet dropped off the cheque to Greenwood’s home.

Earlier, Perrottet was shown a message he sent to Nassif asking if he could meet up to receive assistance from the property developer for a preselection.

Perrottet said he was chasing unpaid money for Beckington and mentioning preselections was a way to lead Nassif to believe his money was being used to support political work.

“I think I was trying to describe, you know, how he could be supportive. Like I made it up,” Perrottet said.

He said he provided political updates to encourage Nassif to pay his Beckington bills, Perrottet said, but told the commission the money was not actually used as political donations.

“Mr Perrottet, you are tying yourself in knots to get around obvious messages about you picking up money from Mr Nassif, is that what’s happening?” Dwyer said.

“I disagree,” Perrottet said.