‘You want the country to be ruled by crooks ... I am a man of honour’: Jean Nassif’s explosive ICAC tirade

Fugitive developer Jean Nassif has unleashed a furious rant at his enemies, repeatedly thundering that he was not corrupt and claiming his daughter was forced to plead guilty to falsifying documents on his behalf when he dialled in to a corruption inquiry from Lebanon.

In a highly agitated appearance , Nassif fronted the Independent Commission Against Corruption from his bedroom in Beirut for a second time, where he screamed over the top of counsel assisting Dr Peggy Dwyer, SC, and insisted he was an “honourable, honourable man”.

Nassif accused the commission of not wanting to hear the truth as Dwyer pressed him on payments he had made to “the boys”, a reference to Liberal operatives Jeremy Greenwood and Christian Ellis, whose lobby firm, Beckington, was contracted to do work for Nassif.

Instead, he demanded that Dwyer ask him about former police minister David Elliott , who Nassif repeatedly claimed was corrupt and responsible for destroying his company, Toplace, which collapsed in 2023 with $1 billion owed to creditors.

The commission is investigating whether Nassif paid $2 million in illegal donations to Ellis, Greenwood and Charles Perrottet in return for political favours. It is also looking at whether Nassif tried to damage the political career of Elliott and have the former building commissioner David Chandler sacked.

Nassif maintained that all he wanted from Greenwood and Ellis was their help with his stalled building projects, and told the commission he was not interested in Dominic Perrottet becoming premier because he wanted to be “friends” with all factions of the Liberal Party.

He said he had never heard of the Perrottet family until “the boys” at Beckington introduced him to Dominic’s brother Charles. He has denied paying for political influence, instead telling the commission that he was paying Beckington to support his developments.

“I was not involved with paying politics to get my projects approved,” Nassif said.

“If they did any corrupt work I am not involved with it, I was not aware of it.”

Dwyer read Nassif a transcript of an intercepted phone call conversation he had with an associate.

“The premier is my best friend, if you have any issues anywhere now, they’re my friends and my boys. I’ve got my hand on the state government, and you’re going to see changes,” Nassif said after Dominic Perrottet became premier in early October 2021.

Dwyer asked Nassif if he believed at the time that because the right faction of the Liberal Party had secured the leadership and Dominic Perrottet was promoted to premier, his developments would be approved and Chandler would be removed from his position.

Nassif said he had been convinced by the Beckington “boys” that they would get rid of Elliott from Perrottet’s new ministry.

“I knew then that Mr Elliott is staying, and I lost my mind because I was convinced that when the right rose, all the crook, racist, left politician should leave their seats as ministers because they’re being unjust,” Nassif told the commission.