A Liberal operative has denied making up a “pink” or “fuchsia”-coloured piece of paper which he says was the record of an agreement with a property developer worth up to $۵m, a corruption inquiry has heard.
Jeremy Greenwood told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Wednesday that the note, which he did not mention in a preliminary interview with the watchdog, was not a “recent invention”.
Icac is investigating the allegation Greenwood, Charles Perrottet and Christian Ellis, shared in $۲m in payments between ۲۰۲۰ and ۲۰۲۳ from fugitive developer Jean Nassif in exchange for political outcomes.
Charles Perrottet, who is a brother of the former premier Dominic Perrottet, and Greenwood have denied taking illegal political donations. Ellis is overseas and is not expected to give evidence during the hearings. Dominic Perrottet is not a person of interest in Icac’s inquiry and is not accused of any wrongdoing.
On Monday, Greenwood told the commission about an agreement with Nassif under which lobbying company Beckington, controlled by him and Ellis, would be awarded $۱m for each of up to five Toplace projects, if they were able to have them fast-tracked.
He said the only written record of this agreement was a note once stored in the back of the Toplace general manager’s phone case. Greenwood claimed it contained the names of two of the projects, was folded in half, and was “fuchsia” or “purple-pink” in colour.
On Wednesday, counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer SC, suggested he had made up the piece of paper, which he accepted he had not mentioned in a preliminary interview with Icac.
Dwyer said: “That’s because it was a recent invention that you came up with on Monday or prior to Monday to explain that arrangement, isn’t it?”
“No, that’s absolutely incorrect,” Greenwood said.
On Wednesday, Greenwood told the inquiry that Toplace executive, Sharangan Maheswaran – who he said was a “very close friend” – acted personally for him as a solicitor. He said they had a verbal agreement for costs, for which there was no written record, accepting he once paid Maheswaran $۳۰,۰۰۰.
“If I worked him hard, I’d give him some money,” Greenwood said. Greenwood said this arrangement existed while Toplace was trying to challenge large payments to Beckington.
He said Maheswaran had not advised him “specifically” about a potential conflict of interest. Dwyer put it to him “that the threads of your story pull apart very quickly”.
“Really?” responded Greenwood.
After Greenwood said he was “not across legal conflicts”, Dwyer said it was “an obvious one for a lawyer or a non-lawyer you can’t have the same solicitor appearing for two clients when one’s trying to stop the other one getting an amount of money”.
“It’s not rocket science, it it?” she said.
Greenwood said: “It’s not rocket science, no. But to be clear, he was very transparent with me about what he was doing and how it was negatively impacting me and not helping me in that situation.”
Maheswaran, who is named as a person of interest in a separate Icac allegation, is expected to appear before the commission later this week.
Nassif is scheduled to appear via video link from Lebanon. He withdrew from an appearance last week after providing a medical certificate.
The inquiry continues.
