A lawyer for a fugitive property developer has been dragged into an alleged plot to topple a former state MP.
Sharangan Maheswaran is under questioning at the Independent Commission Against Corruption over dealings with builder Jean Nassif, as well as former Strathfield Council colleagues.
Nassif, currently in Lebanon, previously gave bombastic evidence and is accused of involvement in plots to influence politics.
Mr Maheswaran also knew Nassif’s political lobbyists, including Jeremy Greenwood whose relationship to an allegedly subversive Liberal faction is also under scrutiny.
The commission on Friday was told Mr Maheswaran and Mr Greenwood texted each other while working for Nassif.
Counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer read into the commission a text from Mr Greenwood.
“We have something that will kill Elliott,” it read, in reference to Nassif’s perceived adversary and public critic, David Elliott.
Mr Maheswaran replied “your ears must be ringing", Dr Dwyer read to the ICAC.
“I just picked up the phone to let you know that I’ve got something decent,” the text continued.
Mr Maheswaran also mentioned a story about Alex Hawke, a more centrist MP and another Nassif foe, which he believed would be published in a local tabloid.
For much of the morning’s evidence, Mr Maheswaran fastidiously detailed the organisational structures which covered his relationship with Nassif.
Dr Dwyer at one point forced an intervention, saying: “companies are made up of humans, Mr Maheswaran, not robots, they’re not remote things that exist in the ether”.
“You personally, as a human, worked closely with Jean Nassif from September 2020, didn’t you?” she asked.
The commercial lawyer replied “I accept that, yes”.
He told the commission his relationship with the developer became more intertwined over time.
By late 2020, he had held a range of titles which shifted almost every month, he said, including planning adviser, planning manager and group executive.
The value of those relationships amounted to around $1.4 million between July 2020 and March 2023, he told the inquiry, more than the amount on the commission's records.
He first came to work with Toplace after meeting Nassif's daughters at an awards dinner.
Authorities nabbed Mr Maheswaran's phone and laptop back in 2023 just two days after police raids on Nassif's office and home in Sydney.
Nassif remains wanted for an alleged $150 million fraud. He called into the inquiry from his bedroom in Beirut, Lebanon, earlier in the week.
Nassif used the opportunity to denigrate his political enemies, including Mr Elliott.
He told the inquiry he was prepared to "speak his heart", going on to allege Mr Elliott blocked his developments in western Sydney because he was "racist" and "corrupt".
Mr Elliott previously told the inquiry it was because he had received complaints from voters that the properties were defective.
The inquiry heard a recording of a phone call between Nassif and an associate - translated by the commission from Arabic into English - during which Nassif bragged about owning more than half of the government.
He was heard in the call saying he was considered the "Godfather" of the Liberal Party and was responsible for getting rid of Mr Elliott's seat.
However, Nassif denied paying the lobbyists to enlist the help of former premier Dominic Perrottet's brother Charles, another party operative, to influence political outcomes.
