A husband and wife caught up in an ICAC storm are taking stand on Friday as the corruption inquiry digs deeper into claims fugitive developer Jean Nassif used Liberal Party connections to pursue his own interests.
Former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet’s brother Charles and his wife Anita are both giving evidence on Friday after a dramatic day in the witness box from former NSW building commissioner David Chandler.
The commission is investigating whether Mr Nassif made illegal donations to Liberal Party figures who then worked to advance his goals, including pushing Mr Chandler out of his job and damaging the political career of former minister David Elliott.
Dominic Perrottet is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Ms Perrottet first gave evidence on Wednesday when she was questioned about payments to her company, her business dealings and what she knew of her husband’s political work.
She is not a person of interest in the ICAC hearing.
She returned to the witness box on Friday, where questioning quickly turned to her use of encrypted messaging apps during business dealings with Jeremy Greenwood.
Earlier in the inquiry, ICAC was told Ms Perrottet received large sums through Mr Greenwood’s government relations firms for acting as a “sounding board” and providing oral advice.
Counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer SC asked why advanced chat privacy settings were activated in their WhatsApp thread on August 10, the same day Mr Greenwood was giving evidence before the inquiry.
“Why would you have disappearing messages with Jeremy Greenwood when you’re actually involved in business dealings with him?” Ms Dwyer asked.
Ms Perrottet replied: “It’s just the way it’s always been, just the way we are.”
When Ms Dwyer followed up with, “But why the secrecy? Why not a record of your business dealings?”, Ms Perrottet gave the same explanation.
The hearing also focused on a lunch at Mr Nassif’s home.
ICAC was told Charles Perrottet took the couple’s children to the gathering, where Mr Nassif, Nissy Nassif, Mr Greenwood and his wife Megan Dempsey, and Christian Ellis and his wife Cecile Piat were also present.
Ms Perrottet was asked whether she was maintaining that she had no idea Charles and the children were going there.
Ms Perrottet replied she could not remember the lunch and could not recall whether Charles had told her about it.
She was then shown text messages sent to her husband days before the lunch, including one suggesting “you should look up a wine to buy and take on Saturday”.
Another message sent on the day referred to her being too sick to attend.
Asked if that refreshed her memory that the plan had been for her and Charles to attend lunch with the children at Mr Nassif’s home, alongside Greenwood and Ellis and their wives, Perrottet replied: “No, I don’t remember that at all.”
She was then shown photographs of her children playing at Mr Nassif’s home.
Asked whether that prompted any memory that Charles and the children had been there, Ms Perrottet replied: “No, I’m sorry.”
The inquiry was also told of a text exchange between Ms Perrottet and her husband that appeared to touch on Liberal Party branch politics.
In one message, Charles Perrottet mentioned veteran conservative Liberal figure David Clarke and the Beecroft branch before adding, “Sorry that was for Christian.”
Ms Perrottet replied, “Your other lover.”
In another message, she wrote: “time to kill Clarke, isn’t he like 305 years old?”
She described the messages as jokes.
Ms Dwyer suggested the exchange showed Ms Perrottet did discuss her husband’s political work with him.
Ms Perrottet replied: “I appreciate that from this text exchange it looks like that, but for me, it’s one of probably hundreds of millions of text exchanges with my husband.”
More to come
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