ICAC Operation Rosny as it happened: Assaf evidence finishes amid claims Catholic Schools paid $135k salary for Reformers work; Damien Tudehope to appear tomorrow

The ICAC has had a change of plans, so we’re no longer expecting to hear from MP Damien Tudehope and the hearing has wrapped early.

We’re expecting to hear from Tudehope, along with businessman Frits Mare, tomorrow. For now, here’s a recap of what we covered today:

• Robert Assaf revealed he met with fellow person of interest Jeremy Greenwood at a Belfield cafe to discuss their summons to the ICAC, knowing full well he was not meant to discuss it. The pair went for a walk and deliberately left their electronic devices in Greenwood’s car to avoid being traced.
• Assaf agreed Greenwood was trying to “standardise the message” and wanted to “align” evidence before key Reformers spoke to the ICAC.

• Jean-Claude Perrottet, a key Reformer and Catholic Schools NSW staffer, told fellow Reformer Christian Ellis in a text message that he was doing political work without being compensated fairly, while claiming Assaf received “$135k for Rob to work for faction”. The commission heard $135,000 was Assaf’s salary at the schools body.

• Assaf said there were widespread concerns, as well as “jokes and insinuations”, in the right faction of the Liberal Party around Ellis’s connection to Nassif’s Toplace.

• It became a joke among Assaf’s associates, including Toplace lawyer Sharangan Maheswaran, that Assaf was a “rat” for wanting to appear before the 2023 parliamentary inquiry and be honest. Some would send him rat emojis, and he would be fed false information to try and weed out who he was speaking with, Assaf said.

• An earlier blog post today mistakenly said Dallas McInerney told the commission he wanted to “shake down” Angus Taylor for $10,000 for the reformers. In fact, this claim was made by another witness, who said he had seen a text message from McInerney that was shown to the commission. Taylor has repeatedly denied making any payment.

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 Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Witness Rob Assaf has admitted showing his summons and discussing it with fellow ICAC person of interest, lobbyist 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 Greenwood was paranoid about the inquiry and who may have “ratted”.

Assaf said there was an attempt by Greenwood to align their messaging before giving evidence.

Robert Assaf has told the commission he was labelled a “rat” for wanting to cooperate with a parliamentary inquiry that key Reformers hid from.

The parliamentary inquiry was triggered after Liberal MP Ray Williams gave a speech to parliament outlining allegations of corrupt conduct involving Liberal Party figures and Jean Nassif.

Key individuals involved, including Christian Ellis, Jean-Claude Perrottet and Charles Perrottet, hid from process services to avoid being dragged before the inquiry.

Assaf said it became a joke among his associates, including Toplace lawyer Sharangan Maheswaran, that Assaf was a “rat” for wanting to appear before the inquiry and be honest. Some would send him rat emojis, and he would be fed false information to try and weed out who he was speaking with, Assaf said.

Maheswaran had an “army of private investigators”, and Assaf was worried he would also be followed, the commission heard.

Assaf also told the commission he felt intimidated by a staffer in then-Premier Dominic Perrottet’s office, Angus McCaffrey, who he understood to be passing on messages from Charles Perrottet. The meaning of those messages were that Assaf shouldn’t be open with the parliamentary inquiry or his career would be impacted.

We’re hearing more about how the relationship broke down between Reformers Robert Assaf and Christian Ellis.

Counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer SC asked: “You had concerns, didn’t you, that he might do something at some point that was ICAC worthy?”

Assaf: “It wouldn’t have surprised me, yes, if I said that, or I thought that at the time.”

Assaf recalled being told that Ellis may have been trying to ask members of parliament for the “comms budgets”, which are public funds, for his own personal gain. One of those MPs was Lou Amato, Assaf said.

Jean-Claude Perrottet, a key Reformer and Catholic Schools NSW staffer, told Christian Ellis in a text message he was doing political work without being compensated while claiming Assaf received “$135k for Rob to work for faction”.

The commission previously heard $135,000 was Assaf’s salary at Catholic Schools NSW.

“Can I suggest to you that you were employed in part on the understanding that your work for Reformers would be supported through a salary from Catholic Schools,” Dwyer asked Assaf.

“I don’t accept that,” Assaf said.

Counsel assisting the commission, Dr Peggy Dwyer SC, has begun the hearing by asking Robert Assaf about why he decided to resign from the Reformers, the religious right-wing Liberal factional group that he co-founded.

Assaf told the commission part of his motivation to “phase out” from the Reformers was that he felt co-founder Christian Ellis wasn’t giving him a straight answer on some of his concerns.

One of those concerns, Assaf said, was Ellis’s connection to fugitive property developer Jean Nassif.

Ellis told him he was assisting Nassif with lobbying around a water issue he had for one of his development projects.

Assaf said there were widespread concerns, as well as “jokes and insinuations”, in the right faction around Ellis’s connection to Nassif’s Toplace.

“I personally viewed it as a perception issue, like as in you just don’t want to be associated with developers because it really taints the value stuff we were doing,” Assaf said.

If you want a quick catch-up on the key events from last week, Bevan Shields has put together this video: