After nine weeks of public hearings, the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s Operation Rosny inquiry is sadly drawing to a close.
The forensic deep-dive has had it all: illegal donations, conservative Christian operatives, multimillion-dollar bribes, fugitive developers, blackmail plots, covert surveillance, scorned cabinet ministers and Academy Award-worthy performances in the witness box.
The ICAC – described by detective-turned-crime writer Duncan McNab as Sydney’s answer to the Colosseum – has been blockbuster entertainment. In that spirit, the Herald is pleased to unveil the lucky – and unlucky – recipients of the Operation Rosny Awards.
Winner: Jeremy Greenwood
The lobbyist faced questions earlier this month over why two of his companies paid Anita Perrottet, the wife of key ICAC target Charles Perrottet, $660,999 over two-and-a-half years.
The money was paid despite no written record of any work being done. Anita Perrottet and Greenwood both claimed she earned the money by offering verbal advice. Investigators believe the money was actually what fugitive developer Jean Nassif had given Charles Perrottet in exchange for various political outcomes.
Asked to explain what sort of advice Anita gave for a big tobacco client, Greenwood said she offered a “mum’s perspective” on the vaping black market. “The mum’s perspective is so important – it’s what everybody in politics looks for,” Greenwood enthused.
Anita’s two children weren’t even old enough for kindergarten at that point. “Did she give you a mum’s perspective on deterring under-fives from vaping?” counsel assisting Dr Peggy Dwyer, SC, shot back. “Your evidence is ridiculous.”
Winner: Sharangan Maheswaran
In a crowded field of contenders, the lawyer-turned-Toplace development executive stands out.
Maheswaran was involved in two operations to have a private investigator surveil several enemies, including Strathfield Council mayor Matthew Blackmore and the then police minister David Elliott. He hired Shane De Kauwe, a former Australian Federal Police officer, to do the leg work.
But the operation sometimes extended to the family members of Blackmore and Elliott. Digging up dirt on adults is bad enough. But to extend that to their children is a whole new level of yuck.
On May 19, 2021, Maheswaran provided De Kauwe with a list of names of people close to Elliott, including his wife and two sons who had not long graduated from high school.
Maheswaran also told Blackmore, the Strathfield mayor, in January 2023 that he knew his wife and children had been driven in the mayoral vehicle for a holiday on the NSW South Coast, potentially in breach of the council’s rules. The mayor later told a fellow councillor he felt “sick” that his children may have been monitored.
An honourable mention goes to the charming decision by De Kauwe to use a ladder to install a static camera on an apartment block to watch a woman Maheswaran believed was connected to Elliott.
Winner: Treasurer Daniel Mookhey
The ICAC on Friday heard that Sharangan Maheswaran and Mookhey had a meeting near Parliament House in 2021 during which he told the upper house Labor MP about a series of unfounded allegations about building commissioner David Chandler. Chandler was a huge thorn in the side of Nassif and his Toplace company, and Maheswaran wanted Mookhey to interrogate him in coming budget estimates.
Mookhey, who is now the NSW treasurer, refused. He reported the meeting to ICAC the next day and told Maheswaran he should also report any concerns he held. Congratulations, treasurer! That said, this category was not bursting with potential nominees.
Winner: Commissioner Fabian Gleeson, SC
The man presiding over Operation Rosny has demonstrated the patience of a saint.
As counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer, SC, Juliet Curtin and Hugo Wilesmith have taken turns questioning witnesses, Fabian Gleeson, SC, has sat there for each of the 36 days the inquiry has convened public hearings.
His biggest test came on September 15, when Jean Nassif was in the witness box via video link from his Beirut bedroom. The volatile Toplace developer exploded that afternoon, making all sorts of wild allegations about various figures. Gleeson eventually had enough, urging Nassif to “take a breath”.
“The purpose of this inquiry is to get to the truth of certain allegations,” Gleeson said. “It’s not for you to attack other people.”
Nassif replied: “No. No. No. No. No. No. No one can make me shut up!”
Gleeson probably wanted to end the whole thing there. Instead, he closed his eyes, tilted his head towards the ceiling, sat back in his chair and let Nassif continue with his rant. It was an exercise in restraint – and letting a witness hang themselves.
Winner: Jean Nassif
The fugitive developer easily wins this category for his starring role in about a dozen recordings played to the commission. The calls revealed his vicious personality, and habit of big-noting himself and his influence.
In intercepted phone calls, Nassif called former planning minister Rob Stokes an “Aussie left-wing f—er”. David Elliott was a “bulldog bully” and the building commissioner David Chandler a “c–t” whom he vowed to “f–k sideways”. Nassif had a particular hatred for the then premier Gladys Berejiklian, whom he called a “f—ing bitch” and a “s–t”. He complained about COVID-19 lockdowns in one call to Jean-Claude Perrottet, a younger brother of the then treasurer Dominic Perrottet. “Time for a regime change,” Jean-Claude Perrottet replied. “She’s lost it, she’s lost it.”
When on the phone, Nassif also liked to boast. “I hold 50 per cent of the power of this government now,” he said at one stage. He also called himself the “godfather” of the Liberal Party’s hard-right faction
Highly commended: NSW Police
Many of these phone taps weren’t actually conducted by the ICAC; the calls were instead captured by a NSW Police strike force investigating Nassif over fraud and money laundering allegations. The recordings were handed to ICAC in 2022, and made for very helpful listening as the watchdog entered the early days of Operation Rosny.
Winner: Jean-Claude Perrottet
The parliamentary probe into the Hills Shire Council in 2023 risked raising damaging information about the right-wing conservative group known as the Reformers and its relationship with Jean Nassif. The ICAC inquiry has revealed the absurd lengths to which some of the group went to avoid process servers. The most elaborate plot involved Jean-Claude Perrottet, who fled to Fiji for the duration of the inquiry. Greenwood paid $25,000 for the jaunt, and later suggested Nassif should cover the cost. He came back to Australia one day after the inquiry ended. Deirdre Chambers, what a coincidence!
Runner-up: Christian Ellis
The NSW Liberal Party operative is one of the key figures being investigated by ICAC over his alleged role in illegal donations and branch stacking. But he hasn’t made an appearance because he is now living in the United Kingdom and therefore out of the ICAC’s jurisdiction.
Joint winners: Damien Tudehope and Chris Rath
Operation Rosny unexpectedly uncovered details of how the two upper house Liberal MPs helped some men who were in the ICAC’s sights. Their stupidity in getting involved is astounding.
Tudehope admitted to leaking a confidential draft report from the Hills Shire Council parliamentary inquiry to lobbyist and Liberal Party operative Jeremy Greenwood in 2023. Tudehope was then the Coalition government’s most senior member of the upper house.
The Herald revealed Rath had been captured by wire tap helping the Reformers evade the statewide manhunt to force them to appear before parliament. He swiftly apologised when asked about the affair in July this year.
Both are now being investigated for potential contempt of parliament. And for now, Tudehope remains off Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane’s frontbench.
Winner: Dr Peggy Dwyer, SC
No competition. The counsel assisting the ICAC has been a force of nature, interrogating and demolishing the evidence proffered by many in the witness box.
Her forensic work has been a reminder that while the ICAC is not perfect, it is a force for good in a state with a shocking history of systemic corruption.
Winner: Anita Perrottet
The wife of Charles Perrottet seemed astonished that she should be questioned about why $660,999 in payments ended up in her company’s bank account. She got highly defensive when questioned about the reliability of her testimony. She also got cranky when accused of lying under oath.
“I reject that,” the 41-year-old replied. “I’m not lying.” She was spotted laughing in the ICAC’s foyer after her time in the witness box concluded.
Runner-up: Jeremy Greenwood
The lobbyist took an at-times combative approach to his interrogations. At one point, he snapped at someone in the hearing room and said, “Don’t give me that look!” When reprimanded by the commissioner, he apologised but also said he didn’t appreciate “faces being pulled” at him.
Winner: Decision pending
We will have to wait until next year to discover whether the ICAC recommends any criminal charges against the key players.
Special mention: Dallas McInerney
The now-former chief executive officer of Catholic Schools NSW faced claims that he funnelled funding and resources from the organisation towards the Reformers subfaction. The Liberal Party operative also performed a factory reset of his phone and iPad while still sworn in as a witness, which could have deleted potential evidence. He said he wiped the devices because his bank account may have been compromised via Apple Pay.
The Catholic Schools NSW board sacked McInerney in late August. He has now lost his job, influence within the Liberal Party, and any hope of running for federal parliament one day.
Winner: The NSW Labor Party
No explanation needed.
Sydney’s best coverage of the ICAC inquiry
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
