Inside ICAC's Operation Rosny: Lobbyists, a Fugitive Developer, and Alleged Liberal Party Payments
On 7 September 2026, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) heard testimony from lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood, a principal at Beckington Consulting, about his alleged share of $2 million in payments from fugitive developer Jean Nassif. Nassif owned Toplace, a building company that collapsed amid mounting scrutiny over defective construction work.
Counsel assisting the inquiry, Peggy Dwyer, told the hearing that the payments were split three ways: between Greenwood, right-wing Liberal Party powerbroker Charles Perrottet, and fellow conservative Liberal figure Christian Ellis.
The hearing is part of ICAC's public inquiry codenamed Operation Rosny, formally titled 'Allegations concerning possible offences under the Electoral Funding Act and other matters.' Public hearings opened on 27 July 2026. The inquiry examines whether, between roughly 2020 and 2023, political donations were made by or on behalf of Nassif and Toplace Pty Ltd — entities classified as 'prohibited donors' under NSW electoral law. Prohibited donors are individuals or companies banned from making political contributions, typically because of their business dealings with the government. The investigation also names Robert Assaf and Jean-Claude Perrottet among those alleged to have solicited or accepted political donations, including from Nassif.
Charles Perrottet is the brother of former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet. Dominic Perrottet is not a person of interest in the inquiry and faces no allegations of wrongdoing.
ICAC alleges the payments from Nassif were directed toward securing political outcomes. These included the removal of the Hills Shire council and attempts to remove NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler, who had placed prohibition orders on Nassif's developments due to building defects. Prohibition orders are official bans that prevent a developer from continuing or completing specific construction projects. Earlier hearing transcripts, published on 2 September 2026 and covering evidence from 1 September, detailed cash flow problems at Toplace and Nassif's stated desire to get the Building Commissioner 'off his back.'
At the centre of the 7 September evidence is an April 2020 meeting attended by Nassif, Charles Perrottet, and Greenwood. Dwyer said this meeting was where large payments for securing approval of Nassif's developments through a NSW government fast-track process were discussed. The fast-track process was a mechanism designed to accelerate planning approvals for certain projects. Around the same time, Greenwood and Ellis exchanged text messages and photographs of cars they aspired to own, including a Porsche 911 and a red Ferrari.
Greenwood agreed in evidence that the trio were offered $1 million per project if their projects were accepted into the fast-track process. The Toplace projects discussed included 189 Macquarie Street in Parramatta, Garthowen in Castle Hill, O'Riordan Street in Mascot, a Cherrybrook project, and possibly a project at either Clyde or Box Hill. Dwyer expressed surprise that Greenwood accepted the arrangement, which was potentially worth $5 million to Beckington Consulting if all projects were approved. Greenwood responded that this was simply how Nassif did business.
The payment agreement, Greenwood testified, was written on a scrap of pink paper kept in the glasses case of Nassif's associate Larissa Mouawad. Evidence from the 3 September hearing indicated the first payment of $148,500 from Nassif was made on 11 September. Transcripts from that day also showed Greenwood and Ellis arranging a meeting with Nassif to discuss business involving roughly $1 million.
Not all the projects followed the same planning pathway, and this became a point of contention. Disagreements arose over payment for the Garthowen project, which involved a change to the Hills Shire local environment plan — a planning instrument that sets land-use rules for an area — and was approved in tranche three of the fast-track process rather than as a standard development approval. The development application for 189 Macquarie Street, Parramatta, by contrast, was approved in tranche five, around August 2020.
ICAC's opening statement, delivered on 28 July 2026, said Nassif proposed an arrangement to make large payments, initially totalling $1 million, to stack Liberal Party branches. Branch stacking is the practice of recruiting members to a political party's local branches to influence internal preselection votes — essentially flooding the membership to install preferred candidates. Evidence given on 31 August 2026 suggested Nassif may have believed he was providing funds for upcoming preselections, and that Greenwood and Ellis received the money.
Charles Perrottet and Jeremy Greenwood have denied taking illegal political donations. Christian Ellis is overseas and is not expected to give evidence during the hearings. Jean Nassif remains a fugitive, currently believed to be in Lebanon.
The broader context here is one of intersecting regulatory failures and political influence networks that Operation Rosny is now mapping in granular detail. ICAC is examining whether a government mechanism designed to speed up planning approvals was instead leveraged by a prohibited donor — through payments to Liberal Party operatives — to secure outcomes ranging from development approvals to the sidelining of a building regulator who had acted against him. The involvement of a former premier's sibling, the flight of the central figure, and the absence of one accused from the proceedings all compound the difficulty of arriving at a complete evidentiary picture.
What remains unresolved is whether ICAC's findings will prompt structural reform of the fast-track planning process itself, or of the electoral funding framework that classifies donors like Nassif as prohibited. The inquiry continues.
