The younger brother of a former state premier is answering to corruption allegations linked to his conservative Liberal Party faction.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating alleged illicit political donations and branch-stacking spearheaded by the Reformers, a conservative Christian faction among state Liberals.
Jean-Claude Perrottet - brother of former NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet - is alleged to have solicited and accepted illegal political donations to fund the recruitment of like-minded members to the Liberal Party.
It is alleged he was seeking to gain power and influence pre-selections, in a process known as branch-stacking.
The now 29-year-old travelled to Fiji to avoid fronting a 2023 parliamentary inquiry established after the allegations first surfaced.
He was approached by Reformers co-founders, Christian Ellis and Robert Assaf in 2018 and asked if he wanted to join them, the inquiry was told.
The group organised events intended to attract people to the Liberal Party, with speakers on issues including abortion, euthanasia, religious freedom and government-mandated vaccinations.
“We wanted to get like-minded people together who cared about, I guess, social issues or making change," Jean-Claude Perrottet said.
“To make a difference to make society a better place.”
He agreed the group wanted to increase Christian policy in government by influencing pre-selections.
“If the Reformers were able to influence pre-selections, they might then be a good chance of influencing policy outcomes down the line,” Counsel Assisting Juliet Curtin said.
“I think that if someone who's aligned on the policy was able to become a member of parliament, they would be aligned on the policy,” Jean-Claude Perrottet replied.
Mr Assaf earlier told the inquiry Jean-Claude Perrottet was under pressure to recruit more members to the Hills District branch and would pay for memberships for his friends.
The Hills Shire is where alleged political moves were designed to benefit the business interests of fugitive property developer Jean Nassif, who is also being investigated.
"Renewal time, I recall, being very stressful for Jean-Claude because a lot of his people were friends and doing it for him as opposed to the cause," Mr Assaf said.
Mr Assaf said he was firmly against the practice because it was against party rules and could result in a branch being frozen.
Counsel Assisting the inquiry, Peggy Dwyer asked if Jean-Claude Perrottet's activities gave him particular cause for concern, given that his brother Dominic was then a member of parliament.
"Anything Claude did at that time, noting his brother's position, I was sensitive to," Mr Assaf said.
On Tuesday, the inquiry heard from senior Liberal Damien Tudehope that Jean-Claude Perrottet had worked in his ministerial office in the late 2010s.
Mr Tudehope agreed it was a breach of the code of conduct for staffers to undertake recruiting and renewal work during work hours due to their pay being taxpayer-funded.
“So it's not for people to use it to drum up membership,” Ms Dwyer said.
“Yeah," he replied.
