ICAC to hear from Charles and Anita Perrottet after dramatic David Chandler evidence

A husband and wife at the centre of the ICAC storm are due to take the stand on Friday as the corruption inquiry digs deeper into claims fugitive developer Jean Nassif used Liberal Party connections to pursue his own interests.

Former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet’s brother Charles and his wife Anita are both expected to give evidence on Friday after a dramatic day in the witness box from former NSW building commissioner David Chandler.

The commission is investigating whether Mr Nassif made illegal donations to Liberal Party figures who then worked to advance his goals, including pushing Mr Chandler out of his job and damaging the political career of former minister David Elliott.

Ms Perrottet first gave evidence on Wednesday when she was questioned about payments to her company, her business dealings and what she knew of her husband’s political work.

Thursday’s hearing centred on Mr Chandler’s dealings with Mr Nassif while he was trying to clean up the building industry and crack down on defects.

Mr Chandler told ICAC the first time he met Mr Nassif in person, at a Toplace site inspection in Botany in Sydney’s south, the developer became angry and “really laid it into me well and truly”.

“I waited until he’d finished, I took a breath, and then I laid it into him,” he told the inquiry, before recounting how he warned Mr Nassif: “Mr Nassif, I am the building commissioner of NSW. You will respect that position … this is the last meeting that you and I will have face-to-face.”

The former commissioner also told ICAC that Mr Nassif later made a threatening phone call while he was investigating defects in one of the developer’s projects.

“He just basically said, ‘Don’t you harm my project, and if you harm my project, I’ll harm you’,” Mr Chandler told the commission.

Another major focus was an alleged $5m “shakedown attempt” raised during talks about a prohibition order on the Skyview development that blocked an occupation certificate.

Mr Chandler told the inquiry that Toplace executive Sharangan Maheswaran raised an anonymous email claiming money paid into a lawyer’s trust account could lead to the order being lifted. Mr Chandler is not accused of wrongdoing.

He told ICAC he pushed for the matter to go straight to police, but Toplace did not proceed and later appeared to back away from the allegation. Mr Chandler told the inquiry he believed the move was “about unsettling me”.

The hearing also examined the pressure that built before Mr Chandler briefly resigned in 2022 despite being cleared over a video published by The Australian.

He told ICAC he feared then minister Eleni Petinos might lose confidence in him and gave evidence that Ms Petinos or her chief of staff had referred to a video before it surfaced publicly.