A Liberal figure under investigation for allegedly accepting illegal political donations has told an inquiry he paid for the brother of former premier Dominic Perrottet to travel to Fiji and urged the CEO of Catholic Schools NSW to “go to Brisbane” to avoid appearing before a parliamentary committee.
Consultant and lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood gave his third day of evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s (Icac) Operation Rosny on Wednesday.
Icac is investigating whether the Christian Liberal group the Reformers solicited or accepted prohibited donations for the recruitment or renewal of members to the party. The practice, known as branch stacking, is not itself illegal.
The Reformers wanted more conservative policies on issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia. Greenwood has disputed that he was a member of the group.
Questioning on Wednesday afternoon focused on a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry into allegations of branch stacking which preceded Icac’s probe.
Icac has previously heard that Greenwood, Reformers Christian Ellis and Jean-Claude Perrottet, as well as Charles Perrottet, another brother of the former premier, avoided summons to appear at public hearings in 2023. Dominic Perrottet is not named as a person of interest in Icac’s allegations.
Greenwood on Wednesday admitted to giving Jean-Claude Perrottet his credit card details so he could book flights to Fiji. The inquiry heard that he also arranged for three loans worth $25,000 to be paid to him for the trip in February 2023 via his lobbying firm JPG Advisory.
The inquiry heard that after another person named in Icac’s allegations, Catholic Schools CEO, Dallas McInerney, received a letter from the chair of the parliamentary inquiry, Greenwood sent him a message in which he said: “WTF. Go to Brisbane”. Greenwood said he did not recall sending the messages.
Greenwood admitted that he himself had avoided summons he considered “invalid”, accepting the offer of a private security guard outside his home from Sharangan Maheswaran, who is also named in Icac’s allegations, and was a lawyer to fugitive property developer Jean Nassif and his company Toplace.
Icac is investigating the allegation that, between 2020 and 2023, Nassif made prohibited donations to Greenwood, Ellis and Charles Perrottet in exchange for outcomes sought by Nassif.
The inquiry heard messages between Greenwood and a private investigator employed by Maheswaran about security guards in which he requested “no numpties. Attentive ones”.
Greenwood, who said that it was his idea for Jean-Claude Perrottet to go to Fiji, admitted he suggested to Maheswaran that Nassif cover his costs.
“I can’t remember if it was paid, but I suggested to Sharangan at the time: ‘You know, your boss is the cause of this, so you can cover it.’”
The inquiry heard Greenwood wrote to Jean-Claude Perrottet “to send food photos” from Fiji, and that the latter negotiated a $165,000 employment contract with Catholic Schools NSW while he avoided the parliamentary inquiry in 2023.
The inquiry previously heard from Reformer Robert Assaf that he had met with Greenwood on multiple occasions this year after receiving summons to appear before Icac, leaving their phones in the car.
On Wednesday, the inquiry heard that Greenwood also met with Jean-Claude Perrottet at a pub in Sydney after Greenwood’s compulsory examinations with the watchdog in June 2025, during which the Icac commissioner instructed him not to discuss his evidence with anyone except his lawyers.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailGreenwood was asked why in the meeting, of which the watchdog has CCTV, the men positioned their phones away from the table. He said it was “a practice I’ve had for a long time”.
“I remember Barack Obama once said he never brings a phone into a meeting,” he said.
Greenwood said he had spoken to Ellis, who has moved to the UK and is not expected to give evidence, twice this week in phone calls after hearings. After he said Ellis had watched the end of the livestream on Tuesday’s proceedings, counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer SC addressed Ellis directly.
“Commissioner, can I just take the opportunity to reiterate, if Mr Ellis is listening, that we have contacted Mr Ellis and requested that he give evidence in this commission, and offered to make arrangements so that he can give evidence to this commission via video proceedings from the United Kingdom, and that those arrangements can be made.”
The presiding commissioner, Fabian Gleeson, said: “Yes, you may. And if Mr Ellis is listening, the commission waits for his response.”
Earlier on Wednesday, the inquiry heard Reformers members received a “kickback” from consultancy payments made by Catholic Schools NSW, the governing body for more than 600 schools in the state.
The inquiry has heard that Greenwood agreed to pay Jean-Claude Perrottet, whom he described as his “best mate”, half of a monthly retainer if he was able to secure the contract with McInerney, while Assaf received a one-off 10% of the retainer.
Greenwood was read emails between him and McInerney in October 2022 in which the latter asked him about missing invoices, to which he responded: “I stopped sending them in the end, haha.”
Dwyer, asking why he had signed off the message in that way, said: “Is the joke on parents paying funds to Catholic Schools NSW, or the government assisting with that funding, that this money is not for any genuine consultancy, but was in fact intended in part to fund Jean-Claude Perrottet?”
“Absolutely not,” said Greenwood.
Nearly 80% of funding for Catholic Schools NSW comes from federal and state funding, or about $3.8bn in 2024.
Wednesday’s evidence involved several fiery exchanges. At one point, Greenwood was reprimanded during his evidence after he told someone in the hearing room: “Don’t give me that look.”
The presiding commissioner, Fabian Gleeson, pausing the hearing, told Greenwood: “You need to be respectful in the way in which you behave. You need to listen to counsel’s questions. You do not direct comments to other people sitting in this room.”
As Greenwood was cross examined by Bruce Levet, the lawyer representing former NSW Liberal minister David Elliott, about a “shit sheet” Greenwood has admitted commissioning on Elliott, he accused the former MP of “stalking my mother right now … on LinkedIn”.
Gleeson said: “You definitely should not have said that, Mr Greenwood … It was totally inappropriate.” Greenwood apologised.
Greenwood has not been released from his summons and is expected to appear again before the commission. McInerney is due to appear as a witness on Thursday and Friday this week.
Icac’s inquiry continues.
