Charles Perrottet, brother of former New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet, has repeatedly denied receiving payments from property developer Jean Nassif to achieve political outcomes. Testifying before a corruption inquiry, Mr Perrottet stated he cannot explain a message sent after a Nassif development was refused, which read: “Charles fucked this whole thing.”
Mr Perrottet has previously told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) that he would lie to Nassif about undertaking political work for him. On Thursday, he suggested he may also have regularly lied to close friend Christian Ellis, who is named in Icac’s allegations, to “sound supportive.” He rejected the accusation that he was fabricating evidence to the commission.
Icac’s inquiry into alleged corruption in the NSW Liberals is investigating claims that conservative factional figures Charles Perrottet, Jeremy Greenwood, and Ellis received prohibited donations totalling $2m from Nassif or his company Toplace between 2020 and 2023. These payments were allegedly in exchange for political outcomes and the recruitment or renewal of Liberal party members, a practice known as branch stacking, which is not illegal itself.
The commission heard an exchange from April 2020 where Greenwood expressed concern about losing Toplace as a client after Nassif’s Cherrybrook development proposal was refused. Mr Perrottet said he did not understand the meaning of Greenwood’s message, which stated, “Charles fucked this whole thing.”
Jean Nassif, who left Australia for Lebanon in 2022, has withdrawn from an expected video link appearance after providing Icac with a medical certificate. He has previously denied any wrongdoing. Christian Ellis is currently overseas and has not responded to Icac, while Jeremy Greenwood and Sharangan Maheswaran are scheduled to appear before the commission next week.