Private eye claims secret recordings were justified, ICAC told

A private investigator has insisted it was inappropriate for the former mayor of Strathfield Matthew Blackmore and a local developer to discuss ways to “hide money”, saying he was confident covertly recording their conversation was lawful.

However, the Independent Commission Against Corruption heard on Tuesday that despite Shane De Kauwe’s claims, transcripts he prepared from recorded conversations at an inner west cafe did not show any evidence Blackmore and developer Antoine Doueihi discussed concealing cash.

De Kauwe, who runs the firm Elite Risk Services, told the commission he believed he could lawfully record the conversation between Blackmore and Doueihi because he overheard them discussing a “trust company”, which De Kauwe said raised red flags for him.

Counsel assisting Juliet Curtin suggested to De Kauwe his transcripts from the largely inaudible recordings did not show any evidence of corrupt conduct but instead revealed occasional mentions of “eggs on toast” or a “soy cap”.

De Kauwe said the “totality of the conversation shows a trend”.

“I might say my report was being written to provide to law enforcement so that they could do further inquiries. I didn’t see this as the end state. It was to give them enough evidence to see why they would put resources into an investigation,” De Kauwe told the commission on Tuesday.

The commission heard that one-time Labor Strathfield councillor Sharangan Maheswaran asked De Kauwe to carry out surveillance on Blackmore because he wanted to show the then-mayor meeting with property developers, De Kauwe said.

The ICAC is investigating whether Maheswaran and/or fellow councillor Karen Pensabene engaged in conduct towards Blackmore that involves the dishonest or partial exercise of their official functions and/or a breach of public trust, including conduct which could involve blackmail and/or possible breaches of the Surveillance Devices Act 2007.

Pensabene will not appear before the commission because she was released from her summons on medical grounds.

De Kauwe was tasked with taking photos and recording the movements of Blackmore and Doueihi, also a former Strathfield mayor, but in his first attempt in May 2021, the private investigator did not find anything. Maheswaran was not a councillor at the time.

The commission was told the now-collapsed construction company Toplace, owned by fugitive developer Jean Nassif, ultimately footed the $134,000 bill for De Kauwe to follow and secretly record Blackmore over several months. Maheswaran was also a senior executive at Toplace.

As well as trailing Blackmore, De Kauwe was also asked to “look for political vulnerabilities” relating to then-police minister David Elliott, a known enemy of Nassif’s.

De Kauwe said Maheswaran wanted to find out the identity of a woman Elliott was accused of having met in breach of COVID-19 restrictions. The only description of her provided to De Kauwe was that the woman was middle-aged with brown hair, the commission heard.

De Kauwe did not find anything on Elliott, but did use a ladder to install a static camera on an apartment block to watch a woman Maheswaran believed was connected to Elliott.

The investigator took his instructions from Maheswaran, but invoiced Toplace. He charged Nassif’s company $14,995.95 for his surveillance work on Elliott, the commission heard.

Curtin asked De Kauwe about investigating Elliott, a Liberal MP from the centre-right faction of the party who was a vocal critic of Toplace developments.

“What did you understand his [Maheswaran’s] connection or interest to be in Mr Elliott at that point in time?” she asked.

“He didn’t like him,” De Kauwe responded.

De Kauwe also told the commission he did not believe then-building commissioner David Chandler was behind a $5 million extortion attempt on Nassif but thought the claim needed to be reported to police.

He provided a recording device to Maheswaran which was used by Nassif to record a conversation with two men who allegedly alluded to an extortion attempt by Chandler.

The commission heard De Kauwe told Nassif and Maheswaran the allegations needed to be reported to police, but Nassif did not want to make a complaint.

The investigator instead called a friend in the police force and made his own complaint.

“I didn’t believe it was the commissioner, I believe that these guys were using Jean, you know, Jean being Jean, trying to get money out of Jean,” De Kauwe said.

Chandler is not accused of any wrongdoing.

De Kauwe earlier told the commission he provided covert listening devices – including a secret recording pen – to Maheswaran as well as Liberal apparatchik Jeremy Greenwood, who had a lobbying contract with Toplace.

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