Former NSW building commissioner David Chandler has opened his evidence at ICAC with an explosive account of a face-to-face clash with fugitive developer Jean Nassif as the corruption inquiry examines an alleged push to drive him from office.
The commission is investigating whether fugitive property developer Jean Nassif paid money to Liberal Party figures, including Charles Perrottet, Christian Ellis and Jeremy Greenwood, to help fund factional work and pursue outcomes in his interests.
Those alleged goals included removing Mr Chandler from his role and damaging the political career of former minister David Elliott.
As the hearing began on Thursday, Mr Chandler told the commission his job was to ensure developers complied with standards and were held accountable when projects fell short.
That included the power to issue prohibition orders, which could prevent developers from securing occupancy certificates until defects were fixed, as well as stop work and rectification orders.
The inquiry then turned to Mr Chandler’s first in-person meeting with Mr Nassif, during a site inspection at a Toplace development in Botany.
Mr Chandler told the commission he had identified possible waterproofing issues in bathrooms after the previous building certifier lost accreditation.
He told the hearing Mr Nassif became angry and “really laid it into me well and truly”.
Mr Chandler said Mr Nassif told him: “Don’t you go and hurt my company, I build lots of buildings, I provide important housing for the citizens of NSW and you need to understand I play an important role in this industry and don’t you think you can just come in and step all over me because I’m an important person.”
Mr Chandler told the inquiry Mr Nassif became overbearing and “animated”, before he responded in kind.
“I waited until he’d finished, I took a breath, and then I laid it into him, and I said, ‘Mr Nassif, I am the building commissioner of NSW. You will respect that position, and I suggest you start to pay attention and for the future, this is the last meeting that you and I will have face-to-face. Full stop. End of play. Do not ever speak to me like that again.’”
Mr Chandler said after the confrontation he made it clear he would not meet Mr Nassif face-to-face again and asked for him not to be present during future site inspections.
He said Mr Nassif later rang him while he was sitting with a staff member, and he put the call on speaker so notes could be taken.
“He just basically said ‘don’t you harm my project, and if you harm my project, I’ll harm you’,” Mr Chandler said.
The former commissioner also told ICAC Mr Nassif sent him text messages with a praying hands emoji as he pleaded for an occupancy certificate.
Mr Chandler also spoke about the pressure that built before he briefly resigned as building commissioner in 2022.
He said he was cleared of wrongdoing after a video published by The Australian showed him talking on a worksite about keeping an informal list of certifiers, alongside claims he may have misled budget estimates.
The inquiry was told department secretary Emma Hogan found he had not misled the Upper House committee, although Mr Chandler said she believed he had been “a bit loose with my language”.
He said the episode added to an already stressful atmosphere, including rumours he was “on the take” after Toplace raised an alleged “shakedown attempt” during talks about a prohibition order on the Skyview development that blocked an occupation certificate.
The claim centred on an alleged demand for $5 million to be paid into a lawyer’s trust account in exchange for Mr Chandler being influenced to lift the order.
He told the inquiry he urged Toplace to go straight to police with him over the allegation, but the company declined. He said Toplace later appeared to back away from the claim after refusing to assist an internal investigation.
Mr Chandler told the inquiry he ultimately resigned because he feared the minister could lose confidence in him, despite his exoneration.
“I thought … that was one of the possibilities here, and I was not really prepared to leave office on the basis of a minister saying they’d lost confidence in me, so I thought I’d exit upstage right before that,” he said.
He later withdrew that resignation after being urged to stay by senior figures, including the premier.
More to come