Liberal operatives discussed whether to buy Porsche or Ferrari with developer’s payments, Icac hears

Rightwing NSW powerbrokers are alleged to have received illegal political donations from fugitive developer

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Two Liberal operatives traded photos and messages about whether to buy a Porsche or a Ferrari with payments they received for Toplace projects they got approved via a New South Wales government fast-track development process.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption on Monday heard more evidence from lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood, a principal of Beckington Consulting, who is alleged to have shared in $2m in payments from the fugitive developer Jean Nassif, owner of the now collapsed Toplace.

Greenwood along with Charles Perrottet, a rightwing political powerbroker and brother of the former premier Dominic Perrottet, and Christian Ellis, a fellow conservative rightwing Liberal, are alleged to have received illegal political donations.

Charles Perrottet and Greenwood have denied taking illegal political donations. Ellis is overseas and is not expected to give evidence during the hearings.

Dominic Perrottet is not a person of interest in Icac’s inquiry and is not accused of any wrongdoing.

Icac alleges that the payments were used to fund political outcomes, including the removal of the Hills shire council and attempts to remove the building commissioner David Chandler, who had placed prohibition orders on Nassif’s developments due to defects.

The counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer has said the payments were split three ways between the trio.

Charles Perrottet and Greenwood attended a meeting in April 2020 with Nassif and around the same time Greenwood and Ellis had a text exchange in which they traded pictures of cars they desired. Greenwood sent a picture of a Porsche 911.

Ellis replied: “I don’t know. The top of the range one. It’s just insane.”

Greenwood: “There’s something about a red Ferrari always.”

Ellis: “That’s true too. That Ferrari is very nice, very very nice.”

Greenwood: “It costs about 280, same as that Porsche.”

Dwyer asked: “You ultimately settle on a Porsche, is that right?”

“Yes, but not the $280,000 one,” Greenwood replied.

Dwyer said this exchange indicated that at the 24 April meeting between Nassif, Charles Perrottet and Greenwood was where huge payments for getting Nassif’s developments approved were discussed.

Greenwood agreed that the trio were offered $1m per project if they were accepted for the fast track.

He said there were potentially five projects including 189 Macquarie Street in Parramatta, Garthowen in Castle Hill, O’Riordan Street in Mascot, a Cherrybrook project, and perhaps one at either Clyde or Box Hill, which might have yielded project payments.

Icac has failed to find any paperwork showing evidence of the project payments.

That was because Nassif was not easy to work for, Greenwood said. He often paid late and did not believe in paperwork.

“That’s not how Jean operated,” Greenwood said.

Greenwood said a note about the arrangement had once been stored in the back of the Toplace general manager, Larissa Mouawad’s phone case and he noticed it at a meeting in 2020.

It was on a pink piece of note paper, folded in half.

“Fuschia, purple-pink,” was how Greenwood described it.

Greenwood said he was alarmed about Mouawad having the note and it was later reclaimed by either Nassif, or his lawyer Sharanan Maheswaran. He had not seen it since, he told Icac.

Taken through the accounts by Dwyer, Greenwood agreed that the book-keeping at Beckington and paperwork was chaotic but denied it was because they were attempting to disguise payments that were made for political outcomes.

Greenwood said they often experienced difficulties getting payment from Nassif, and that Charles Perrottet was sometimes used to help prompt Nassif to pay.

Charles Perrottet has denied that he did work for the developer. He said he offered “advice” to Greenwood and Ellis and they offered to reward him by paying his wife, Anita, via her company Macquarie Consulting.

In evidence last week, Charles Perrotett explained his regular contact with Nassif as just helping out his friends to get paid.

‘Dark arts’

Later on Monday, counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer, put to Greenwood that Beckinton stopped being official lobbyist for the collapsed developer, Toplace, so it could concentrate on the “dark arts” of political manoeuvering from November 2020.

Greenwood was one of the directors of Beckington.

Dwyer asked about the engagement of Premier National, another Liberal aligned lobbying group, which was associated with the moderate faction of the Liberal party, as the public face of Toplace’s lobbying efforts.

On 8 November 2020 it became the lobbyist for Toplace on 8 November, on the NSW parliament’s official lobbyist register, while Beckington removed Toplace as a client on 10 November.

Dwyer took Greenwood to a series of text messages in September 2020 where Greenwood said he “joked” with his business partner, Christian Ellis, why Greenwood was not present at a meeting with Toplace boss, Jean Nassif.

Greenwood suggested saying he was exhausted from “managing the recruits” and that “Elliott has offered them double to recruit for him”.

David Elliott was the Baulkham Hills MP and a political rival of the conservative right, who was hated by Nassif because he was perceived as opposing Toplace developments.

“These were just jokes,” Greenwood said, when asked whether these were evidence of their activities to stack branches in the Hills area.

“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.

Nassif is now a fugitive in Lebanon. He has agreed to give evidence by video link next Monday, though he pulled out of a similar arrangement last week.