A former Labor councillor says he had a “common interest” with a conservative Liberal operative, but denied that a message he received about damaging the reputation of NSW Liberal minister David Elliott was related to political work for a fugitive property developer, an inquiry has heard.
Sharangan Maheswaran told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Friday that a message sent to him by lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood claiming “We have something that will kill Elliott” did not relate to work by Greenwood’s company Beckington for Jean Nassif.
Maheswaran, who is no longer a councillor, was a lawyer to property developer Nassif and became an executive at his company, Toplace, in September 2020.
Icac is examining whether Liberal figures Greenwood, Charles Perrottet and Christian Ellis anticipated receiving $2m in prohibited donations from Nassif in exchange for political outcomes, including damage to the career of former NSW Liberal minister and centre-right faction member David Elliott, who had opposed Toplace developments. Greenwood, Perrottet and Nassif have denied that Nassif paid for political outcomes.
On Friday, Dwyer took Maheswaran to a message Greenwood wrote to him in February 2020 in which he said: “We have something that will kill Elliot.”
Maheswaran replied: “Your ears must be ringing. I just picked up the phone to let you know that I’ve got something decent, and the SMH [Sydney Morning Herald] is going to fire up re [centre-right Liberal MP Alex] Hawke this week off the back of an ALP bill to ban developers.”
Dwyer put it to Maheswaran that the messages showed he shared “a common interest with Beckington in terms of damaging the reputation of David Elliott”.
Maheswaran said he “had a common interest with Mr Greenwood in relation to the Hawke faction of the Liberal party”, but rejected the suggestion the messages related to work by Beckington for Nassif.
When asked if Nassif had told him that Elliott had objected to Toplace proposals, Maheswaran said “this is a new invention by Mr Nassif”.
Dwyer asked him if he “seriously contend[ed] to the commission that Jean Nassif never told you that David Elliott was objecting to his proposals”, asking if Maheswaran was suggesting that Nassif had lied to the commission.
Maheswaran said: “His complaint, up to 2025, as I understood it, was that Mr Elliott was backgrounding against him to the media and to various public officials and government officials, but it wasn’t specifically related to any planning process.”
Asked again if Nassif had lied, Maheswaran said “absolutely”. He was shown a draft statutory declaration he sent to a lawyer in 2022 in which he wrote that Nassif had spoken to Elliott about his opposition to a Toplace developments.
Dwyer put it to Maheswaran that he was “happy to assist him [Nassif] with the political outcome he was seeking, which was to get rid of Mr Elliott”.
“I don’t think that was an objective that Mr Nassif was seeking at that point in time,” he responded.
The inquiry heard that Maheswaran came to know Nassif through his daughter Ashlyn Nassif, who was sentenced to a six-month community corrections order earlier this month after pleading guilty to providing false or misleading information to obtain a $150m construction loan from Westpac.
Maheswaran said he was subcontracted to do work for Toplace through Ashlyn Nassif and her sister Evelyn Helou’s law firm EA Legal in late 2019, through another company, Anwalt Pty Ltd.
But he took issue with Dwyer’s suggestion that he and Anwalt were one and the same.
He said: “That’s nonsensical from a corporation’s perspective, from a commercial perspective, from any sort of understanding of contractual law, I’m sorry, Dr Dwyer, I’m speaking in terms of as I understand the world.”
“No problem,” replied Dwyer. Under questioning, Maheswaran accepted that he was the only shareholder and employee of Anwalt at the time.
Dwyer said: “So the only person doing any actual work was you, correct?”
“At that point in time, yes,” said Maheswaran.
Maheswaran told the commission he was paid $1.4m by Toplace between 2020 and 2023, but said he had not disclosed that he was a close associate of a property developer when he nominated for council in 2021, which Dwyer said was required by law.
Icac is investigating whether Maheswaran and fellow Labor Strathfield councillor Karen Pensabene engaged in conduct towards former mayor Matthew Blackmore in a way “that involves the dishonest or partial exercise of their official functions and/or a breach of public trust, including conduct which could involve blackmail” and possible breaches of the Surveillance Devices Act.
When Icac announced its public hearings, Maheswaran told Guardian Australia: “I have every confidence that my actions will be regarded by the public and by any fair tribunal to be lawful and entirely in the public interest.”
On Friday, the inquiry heard that Pensabene had been excused from her summons for medical reasons.
The inquiry continues.
