A contractor accused by developer Jean Nassif of leaking information to the building commissioner told a corruption inquiry he regarded Nassif as a “dangerous person” after a heated confrontation at an inner-west cafe.
Adrian Healey said Nassif had immediately accused him of reporting defects in his buildings. Healey’s evidence was read to the Independent Commission Against Corruption during the inquiry into matters involving Nassif and Toplace.
“He was extremely hostile and had then said what he said about someone reporting him to the building commissioner, and then he said he thinks it was me and pointed at me,” Healey said in evidence given privately.
Healey said he stood up and told Nassif to withdraw the accusation, adding that he believed he had used expletives but was trying to calm the situation.
“I felt myself wanting to de-escalate it because he seemed more of a dangerous person than probably when I’d met him at the beginning,” he said.
The inquiry had previously heard Nassif allege that Healey and another contractor, Navid Ardestani, tried to extort him for $5 million in return for favourable outcomes with building commissioner David Chandler.
Healey told the commission that neither he nor Ardestani had claimed to know someone who could resolve Nassif’s problems with Chandler. Instead, he said Ardestani knew a builder who could help rectify defects and comply with any orders issued by the commissioner.
ICAC hears dispute over recording notes
On Thursday, counsel assisting Dr Peggy Dwyer, SC, questioned Toplace lawyer Sharangan Maheswaran about his knowledge of the extortion allegations. Maheswaran, a former Labor Strathfield councillor, was giving evidence for a fourth day.
Dwyer suggested Maheswaran had made selective notes about a recording of a conversation between Nassif and Ardestani, leaving out Ardestani’s denial that he could influence the government or the commissioner.
In the recording, Nassif asked Ardestani where he had obtained the power to “control the government”. Ardestani replied, “Which power are you talking about?” before Nassif clarified that he meant the commissioner.
Ardestani then asked to meet Nassif in person. Nassif later sent the recording to Maheswaran, who prepared his own notes.
Those notes recorded Nassif’s accusation and that Ardestani wanted a face-to-face meeting because he did not want to discuss the matter by telephone, but did not include Ardestani’s apparent confusion about the allegation.
“You deliberately make that sound sinister, in circumstances where Navid has denied that he can control the government and denied that he can control the commissioner,” Dwyer told Maheswaran.
Maheswaran rejected the suggestion, saying he had extracted what he considered relevant and had typed the notes in a “very, very short” period.
The ICAC inquiry is continuing.
