Intercepted calls, leaked reports and cafe meetings: What we learnt from Rosny week two

See what we learnt from week one of Operation Rosny here.

There are several ways to approach an appearance at the Independent Commission Against Corruption. Some prefer to avoid turning up, and some walk boldly down the street flanked by a phalanx of lawyers.

Jean-Claude Perrottet took the car park, but he could not escape the cameras. The youngest brother of former premier Dominic Perrottet spent two days as an ICAC witness, where he struggled to remember much about how he was paid $5000 a month for work he could not remember doing, before dynamite intercepted phone calls on Thursday afternoon.

The ICAC’s Operation Rosny is examining three main allegations concerning inner workings of sections of the NSW Liberal Party, Catholic Schools NSW and business figures in Sydney. Here are five of the key things we learnt in week two.

1. Assaf’s $135,000 faction job for the Reformers

Several members of the Reformers, a Catholic sub-faction of the NSW Liberal Party, are accused of taking illegal donations to stack branches. But while they shared a mission, they did not always work together smoothly.

Robert Assaf’s job at Catholic Schools NSW was the subject of some jealousy. Jean-Claude Perrottet did not feel he was being compensated fairly for the factional work he was performing, the inquiry heard.

In a text message, he told fellow Reformer Christian Ellis that he was doing political work without being compensated fairly, while claiming that Assaf received “$135k for Rob to work for faction”. The commission heard $135,000 was Assaf’s salary at the schools body.

When Perrottet was asked about this, he recalled that “Rob would sometimes do factional work during the times of nine to five”.

2. Keeping phones in the car doesn’t help

Assaf made a key admission late in his evidence: he showed his summons and discussed it with fellow ICAC person of interest, lobbyist and Liberal operative Jeremy Greenwood.

The pair met at a cafe in Belfield. They left their phones and computers in Greenwood’s car to avoid being tracked, Assaf told the inquiry. He also said that Greenwood was paranoid about the inquiry and who may have “ratted”.

Under Section 114 of the ICAC Act, it can be a criminal offence, punishable by 12 months’ imprisonment, to disclose that you have received a summons from the ICAC.

Assaf agreed that Greenwood was trying to “standardise the message” and wanted to “align” evidence before key Reformers spoke to the commission.

3. Tudehope’s troubles

The reviews are in: Damien Tudehope’s appearance at the inquiry did not go well. Late on Tuesday, the NSW Liberal Party’s most senior member in the upper house revealed he leaked a confidential draft report from a 2023 parliamentary inquiry to Greenwood.

Greenwood was a key witness who refused to give evidence to the 2023 inquiry and is due to appear at the ICAC on Monday.

“I thought that he had, would have had, an interest in that report,” Tudehope told the commission.

Tudehope also revealed that he had a conversation with then-premier Dominic Perrottet about his younger brother Jean-Claude, who was also avoiding the parliamentary inquiry. Tudehope said: “I think he may have told me that he was in Fiji”.

As Tudehope’s evidence began, NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane indicated there was a path back to the frontbench for him. On Wednesday, Sloane was less committed and said she would wait for the inquiry to be completed. On Thursday, Tudehope was referred to the parliament’s privileges committee over the matter. The Liberals supported the motion.

4. Six years is a long time in politics

The saying goes that a week is a long time in politics, which may explain why Jean-Claude Perrottet kept stressing that the events of six years ago were testing the limits of his memory.

Perrottet regularly received $5000 payments from Beckington, a company set up by Greenwood and Christian Ellis whose clients included Catholic Schools NSW and now-fugitive developer Jean Nassif’s Toplace.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Juliet Curtin, described the payments as “substantial injections of cash”, but Perrottet could not recall what work they were for. Perrottet said: “I’m honestly trying to do my best here. I honestly don’t recall why I might have done some work for them.”

5. It ain’t over ’til it’s over

The commission took the lessons from Vanessa Williams’ 1991 power ballad to heart and saved the best for last. It was true of Assaf’s evidence on Monday and Tudehope’s on Tuesday, but they paled compared with the finale of Perrottet’s appearance on Thursday.

After 4pm, Curtin played three intercepted phone calls between the one-time Liberal operative and fugitive developer Nassif. In one, Nassif suggested giving $100,000 to one of Jean-Claude’s brothers to support a preselection. He did not say which brother. Perrottet told the commission that he thought it was nonsense.

In the second call, Perrottet thanked Nassif for his “support for the family”. Perrottet told the commission it was a throwaway comment and described the idea that his brother Charlie was doing work for Nassif as “crazy talk”.

In the third call, after Dominic Perrottet became premier in October 2021, Nassif asked Jean-Claude to “take a message to Charlie or to Dom – the building commissioner, we need to stop him”. This was part of his alleged campaign to have David Chandler removed from the role.

What to expect from week three

Two people are on the witness list for next week, each set down for two days of evidence. First up is Greenwood, the lobbyist and Liberal Party operative who the inquiry has heard was heavily involved in the Reformers’ efforts.

We’ll also get two days of evidence from Dallas McInerney, the Catholic Schools NSW chief executive and long-time Liberal factional figure. The ICAC is investigating whether McInerney directed that allegedly bogus invoices be paid using money from the education body to a company linked to the Reformers, which were in fact political donations for the purpose of recruiting new members to the Liberal Party.

Further reading

Here are some of the highlights from our coverage.