Inside Operation Rosny: A Lobbyist's Admissions and the Web of Allegations at NSW ICAC
Consultant and lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood spent his third day giving evidence before the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on 12 August 2026. His admissions ranged from financing Jean-Claude Perrottet's efforts to avoid a parliamentary inquiry, to arranging private security, to meeting a fellow person of interest despite a commissioner's direction not to discuss his evidence.
Operation Rosny (reference E22/1018) is investigating whether a Christian Liberal faction known as the Reformers solicited or accepted prohibited donations — that is, donations that breach New South Wales electoral law — in exchange for recruiting or renewing party members, a practice commonly called branch stacking. Branch stacking involves flooding a political party branch with members who will vote a particular way in internal contests, giving factional operators outsized influence. The inquiry is also examining whether fugitive property developer Jean Nassif, through his company Toplace, made prohibited donations between 2020 and 2023 to Greenwood, Christian Ellis, and Charles Perrottet in exchange for outcomes Nassif sought. The four key individuals named in the investigation are Greenwood, Ellis, Robert Assaf, and Jean-Claude Perrottet. Former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet is not named as a person of interest. Guardian
Greenwood told the inquiry it was his idea for Jean-Claude Perrottet, brother of the former premier, to travel to Fiji. He suggested to Sharangan Maheswaran — a lawyer named in the Operation Rosny allegations who also represented Nassif and Toplace — that Nassif cover the costs. Greenwood admitted giving Perrottet his credit card details so flights could be booked. He then arranged three loans totalling $25,000 through his lobbying firm, JPG Advisory, to fund Perrottet's February 2023 Fiji trip. Greenwood also wrote to Perrottet while he was abroad, asking him "to send food photos." Guardian
Jean-Claude Perrottet travelled to Fiji and stayed for two weeks to avoid giving evidence at a 2023 parliamentary inquiry. While abroad, he negotiated a $165,000 employment contract with Catholic Schools NSW. The inquiry previously heard that Greenwood, Ellis, Jean-Claude Perrottet, and Charles Perrottet all avoided summonses to appear at public hearings in 2023. A summons is a legal order compelling someone to attend and give evidence. SMH; Guardian
Greenwood himself admitted to avoiding summonses he considered "invalid." He also accepted a private security guard stationed outside his home, offered by Maheswaran. In messages exchanged with a private investigator employed by Maheswaran about the security detail, Greenwood specified "no numpties. Attentive ones." Guardian
The Catholic Schools NSW connection surfaced in another exchange. After CEO Dallas McInerney received a letter from the chair of the parliamentary inquiry, Greenwood sent him a message saying "WTF. Go to Brisbane." Greenwood told the inquiry he did not recall sending the messages. Guardian
Greenwood met with Jean-Claude Perrottet at a pub in Sydney after Greenwood's compulsory examinations with ICAC in June 2025. The commissioner had instructed him not to discuss his evidence with anyone except his lawyers. Robert Assaf, also a member of the Reformers, testified that he met with Greenwood on multiple occasions after receiving summonses to appear before ICAC, leaving their phones in the car during at least one meeting at a Belfield cafe. Assaf revealed this meeting when he appeared as a witness earlier in the inquiry. Guardian; Brisbane Times
Greenwood disputed that he was a member of the Reformers. His testimony on this point sits in tension with evidence from Assaf and Jean-Claude Perrottet, both of whom have disputed whether Greenwood was part of the core factional group. Greenwood also told the inquiry he instructed the conservative Liberal group not to keep going because "it became so toxic." The Reformers had sought more conservative policies on issues including same-sex marriage, abortion, and euthanasia. Guardian
The inquiry's exhibit list includes a photograph of a spreadsheet titled "DISTRIBUTION" taken from Greenwood's mobile phone, dated 27 July 2026. ICAC is livestreaming the Operation Rosny public inquiry, which opened on 27 July 2026. ICAC NSW
The broader stakes here extend beyond any single witness's credibility. Operation Rosny sits at the intersection of two investigative threads: the alleged use of prohibited donations to facilitate branch stacking within a major political party, and the separate allegation that a fugitive developer channelled funds to individuals who could deliver outcomes on his behalf. Greenwood's testimony links these threads directly, through his admitted role in brokering Nassif's financial support for Perrottet's Fiji trip and his reliance on Maheswaran, who simultaneously represented Nassif. The commissioner's explicit direction against discussing evidence, followed by Greenwood's pub meeting with Perrottet and phone-free cafe sessions with Assaf, raises questions about potential contempt or obstruction — that is, deliberate interference with a legal process — that the inquiry will need to weigh alongside the substantive electoral-funding allegations.
What sets Operation Rosny apart from routine ICAC matters is the sheer density of self-incriminating admissions from a witness who appears to have operated as a connective node between political factioneering, lobbying contracts, and a developer now residing outside Australian jurisdiction. The Fiji trip, the security guards, the "DISTRIBUTION" spreadsheet, and the parliamentary inquiry avoidance each function as individual exhibits, but together they sketch a coordinated effort to resist accountability across multiple forums at the same time.
