Sharangan Maheswaran told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Friday that a message sent to him by lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood claiming “We have something that will kill Elliott” did not relate to work by Greenwood’s company Beckington for Jean Nassif.
Maheswaran was a lawyer to property developer Nassif and became an executive at his company, Toplace, in September 2020.
Maheswaran said he “had a common interest with Mr Greenwood in relation to the Hawke faction of the Liberal party”, but rejected the suggestion the messages related to work by Beckington for Nassif.
3 sentences from our version of the report,
chosen to cover it. Nothing here is written; every line is in the article below.
How
Summarized version
Maheswaran was a lawyer to property developer Nassif and became an executive at his company, Toplace, in September 2020. He took issue with Dwyer’s suggestion that he and Anwalt were one and the same.
Headline check
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The article, shortened and in plain language
Sharangan Maheswaran denies message he received about NSW minister was related to work for fugitive property developer.
Sharangan Maheswaran told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Friday that a message sent to him by lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood claiming “We have something that will kill Elliott” did not relate to work by Greenwood’s company Beckington for Jean Nassif.
Icac is investigating whether Maheswaran and fellow Labor Strathfield councillor Karen Pensabene engaged in conduct towards former mayor Matthew Blackmore in a way “that involves the dishonest or partial exercise of their official functions and/or a breach of public trust, including conduct which could involve blackmail” and possible breaches of the Surveillance Devices Act.
Maheswaran was a lawyer to property developer Nassif and became an executive at his company, Toplace, in September 2020.
Icac is examining whether Liberal figures Greenwood, Charles Perrottet and Christian Ellis anticipated receiving $2m in prohibited donations from Nassif in exchange for political outcomes, including damage to the career of former NSW Liberal minister and centre-right faction member David Elliott, who had opposed Toplace developments.
On Friday, Dwyer took Maheswaran to a message Greenwood wrote to him in February 2020 in which he said: “We have something that will kill Elliot.”
Maheswaran said he “had a common interest with Mr Greenwood in relation to the Hawke faction of the Liberal party”, but rejected the suggestion the messages related to work by Beckington for Nassif.
Maheswaran said he was subcontracted to do work for Toplace through Ashlyn Nassif and her sister Evelyn Helou’s law firm EA Legal in late 2019, through another company, Anwalt Pty Ltd.
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