Casey councillor Sam Aziz, who is embroiled in an anti-corruption investigation, has resigned from the Liberal Party in an emotional social media post.
Cr Aziz is at the centre of a corruption inquiry by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) over allegations developer John Woodman bribed Cr Aziz and other Casey councillors in exchange for favourable planning decisions.
He is believed to be in Cairo and has so far avoided giving public evidence to the IBAC inquiry.
Cr Aziz yesterday announced he was resigning due to the "ongoing harassment and ill-informed commentary in the media by the very shallow Tim Smith" in a Facebook post seen by the ABC.
Mr Smith, a Victorian Liberal MP, had called for Cr Aziz to resign, according to Nine newspapers.
"Smith, clearly suffering from irrelevance and a political existentialist dilemma, has been attempting to climb to some sort of prominence on the back of the current IBAC enquiry on the City of Casey, and has effectively convicted me and another councillor, even before a single charge has been laid," the post said.
He said Mr Smith was "shallow", a "hypocrite", and needed to "re-familiarise himself with the values of his own party".
Cr Aziz praised the work of his council before calling Mr Smith an "imbecile".
"I am appalled and I hereby tender my resignation from the Liberal Party, effective immediately," the post said.
Mr Smith told the ABC there was "no place" for Cr Aziz in the Liberal Party and called for the councillor to stop "skiving off" in Cairo and return to Melbourne to "face the music".
"I'm absolutely delighted that Sam Aziz has resigned from the Liberal party," Mr Smith said.
"Sam Aziz is an idiot, he's a disgraceful individual. He's collecting a council wage while holed up in Cairo. The reason he's in Cairo is he's too scared to return to Melbourne to face the music from the anti-corruption commission."
