Ex-building chief to detail plot against him
Chandler said the alleged campaign included a $5 million extortion email and repeated threats as ICAC examines political links to Toplace.
- On Thursday, former NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler told the Independent Commission Against Corruption that fugitive developer Jean Nassif threatened him after he halted work on Toplace apartment projects, alleging Nassif orchestrated a plot to oust him.
- Nassif repeatedly messaged and telephoned Chandler, declaring, "Don't you hurt my project, or I'll hurt you." Toplace executive Sharangan Maheswaran claimed an email requested $5 million to lift a prohibition order on a Castle Hill project.
- The ICAC is investigating whether Nassif paid a $2 million bribe to Liberal operatives, including Charles Perrottet, to orchestrate a smear campaign against Chandler involving unsubstantiated claims he accepted bribes in brown paper bags.
- Former Fair Trading minister Eleni Petinos testified last week she was "disgusted" by the thought her office was used in a plot to drive Chandler from office, noting repeated attempts by Liberal Party operatives to undermine him.
- Fleeing to Lebanon in late 2022, Nassif remains there with an outstanding NSW Police arrest warrant. The developer is scheduled to appear at the inquiry on September 4 via audio-visual link from overseas.
12 Articles
12 Articles
The Examiner
Fugitive developer faces corruption probe from Lebanon
A dodgy developer at the centre of a Liberal Party-linked corruption inquiry and who fled the country is...
Ex-NSW building commissioner tells ICAC of alleged $5m shakedown
Former NSW building commissioner David Chandler has told a corruption inquiry that an allegation of an "extortion attempt" targeting construction company Toplace was used against him in efforts to get a prohibition order on its development lifted.
‘I will harm you’: ICAC hears details of menacing call
The Independent Commission Against Corruption also heard on Thursday the details of an extortion attempt designed to make the former commissioner David Chandler back off from scrutinising Nassif’s troubled Toplace apartment projects.
Sydney Morning Herald
The AgeICAC Operation Rosny LIVE updates: Former building commissioner David Chandler to appear
Follow for live updates as the ICAC investigates links between Liberal Party operatives, fugitive property developer Jean Nassif and Catholic Schools NSW.
‘I’ll hurt you’, developer allegedly told building boss
“Don’t you hurt my project or I’ll hurt you,” a fugitive developer reportedly told a state’s building commissioner when he halted sales in his apartment complex. Former NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler faced the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Thursday and gave evidence in its probe into allegations Liberal party operatives sought cash from Sydney developer Jean Nassif in exchange for political outcomes. That allegedly incl…
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