A key figure at the centre of an anti-corruption inquiry involving the New South Wales Liberal party has moved to the UK and is not expected to give evidence during eight weeks of public hearings.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption will start its Operation Rosny hearings on Monday. The first witness will be a hotelier, Michael O’Hara, followed later in the week by a former Liberal staffer, Dylan Whitelaw, and a consultant, Robert Assaf.
O’Hara and Assaf are among ۱۰ individuals Icac has said it is investigating. Whitelaw is not named in the Icac allegations.
Christian Ellis, a former registered lobbyist and Liberal powerbroker who once received a glowing endorsement from the federal opposition leader, Angus Taylor, is named in two Icac allegations but is not expected to appear.
A ۲۰۲۳ parliamentary inquiry preceded Icac’s current examination of “possible offences under the Electoral Funding Act”. Since that parliamentary inquiry, Ellis has moved to the UK, Guardian Australia can reveal.
Icac is investigating several allegations, firstly that Liberal figures, including Ellis and Assaf, “solicited or accepted” donations, including from prohibited donors, in amounts which were undeclared or exceeded caps, to recruit or renew members to the party – a practice known as “branch stacking”.
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The corruption watchdog is examining a second allegation that between ۲۰۲۰ and ۲۰۲۳, the fugitive property developer Jean Nassif and his company, Toplace, made prohibited donations solicited or accepted by Liberals, including Ellis, “in exchange for the pursuit of outcomes sought by Mr Nassif”.
The ۲۰۲۳ parliamentary inquiry was prompted by allegations made in a ۲۰۲۲ speech under parliamentary privilege by the Liberal MP Ray Williams that Nassif had met Ellis and other senior Liberals, who were paid significant funds to arrange for new councillors to be elected to the Hills Shire council.
Ellis did not appear at the ۲۰۲۳ inquiry because he could not be served with summons after multiple attempts.
The inquiry’s final report recommended that Ellis be called before any future inquiry to give evidence.
Ellis, a director and shareholder of the former registered lobbying firm Beckington, whose clients included Toplace, was elected to the NSW Liberal state executive in ۲۰۱۹, following which he stepped down as director in favour of his wife.
In ۲۰۲۲, Taylor wrote an endorsement of Ellis for a position on the NSW party’s state council, saying “our party will do well to have people like Christian elected to positions of state council”. Taylor, now the federal Liberal leader, is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Ellis declined to comment when asked about the Icac allegations and his move overseas.
