AUSTRALIA: Additional public inquiries about the ruthless misconduct at Hills Shire Council would not be conducted for some time by the New South Wales state parliament with the initiation of the investigation of the anti-corruption commission of the state.
Allegations were initiated in the parliament by NSW Liberal MP Ray Williams in light of the conduct by the senior members of his own party, as reported by the last upper house.
This put the senior members of his party in the spotlight, where former premier Dominic Perrottet’s brother was deemed fit to be hunted down. The premier was not certain as to who should act on the wrongdoings.
When Williams claimed in the NSW parliament that senior Liberal party members had been “paid significant funds” by well-known real estate developer Jean Nassif to install new council members to expedite development applications, then-premier Perrottet referred the issues to Icac. Nasif said, “The Liberal Party will look at those matters, and if any wrongdoing is found, appropriate action will be taken.”
Homes of former and current NSW Liberal Party members have reportedly been searched as part of the probe, and laptops and phones have been taken. A statewide manhunt for Ellis and Jean-Claude Perrottet was started by the previous parliamentary investigation.
In a letter to the committee, Perrottet refuted all charges and claimed it served “political ends” ahead of the state election. Nassif was in rural Lebanon at that time and therefore was not able to appear.
Chris Minns, a spokesperson for the premier, stated, “At the request of Icac, the government will not be proceeding with a public inquiry into the Hills Shire Council at this stage as it may impact an investigation being conducted by the commission.”
Nassif’s daughter, Ashlyn, was arrested and accused of a different set of allegations earlier in 2023, in light of putting out misleading information in order to get an upper hand in a big fraud investigation in a city’s north-west multimillion-dollar development that still happens to be controversial.
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