Charles Perrottet described plan to damage Liberal minister's career after brother's premiership accession, ICAC inquiry hears

Charles Perrottet wrote about a plan to damage a Liberal minister’s career after his brother Dominic’s accession to the New South Wales premiership in October 2021, stating “we execute the prick once party room is over”, a corruption inquiry has heard.

The younger brother of the former premier told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Friday a message he sent to his wife two days before Dominic Perrottet was elected premier by Liberal MPs referred to a plan to oust the former Liberal police minister David Elliott.

As part of its inquiry into alleged corruption by people associated with the NSW Liberals, Icac is investigating whether between 2020 and 2023, figures including Charles Perrottet took prohibited political donations from fugitive property developer Jean Nassif and his company Toplace, including for outcomes such as damaging the career of Elliott.

Dominic Perrottet is not named as a person of interest in Icac’s investigation and is not accused of any wrongdoing.

Charles Perrottet appeared at the inquiry immediately after his wife, Anita Perrottet, on Friday.

During Anita Perrottet’s evidence, counsel assisting Dr Peggy Dwyer SC read out text messages between the couple from Sunday 3 October 2021, two days before a party room vote that elected Dominic Perrottet, a member of the Liberals’ conservative right faction, as premier under an agreement brokered with the moderate faction headed by Matt Kean that weekend.

Charles Perrottet wrote that he “had a long call with Dom”.

“He [Dominic Perrottet] thanked me for everything, not just this weekend, but the last 20 years to get here. Apologised for the Elliott stuff.”

In a subsequent message, Anita Perrottet wrote: “Did Dom confirm that he isn’t going to give Elliott a ministry?”

“I didn’t ask,” Charles Perrottet wrote back. “That’s a call for tomorrow. I told him to turn his phone off and savour the moment with Helen, as tomorrow and Tuesday is going to be crucial in showing unity. We execute the prick as soon as party room is over.”

At the end of his evidence on Friday, Charles Perrottet accepted that the message referred to Elliott, but told the inquiry he was annoyed because Elliott had been running an “anyone but Dom” campaign among MPs.

“I was pretty annoyed at the time of the way David handled himself over the course of the weekend,” he said.

Under repeated questioning from Dwyer and presiding commissioner Fabian Gleeson, Anita Perrottet said she could not recall the messages. She repeatedly rejected the suggestion that her husband was the “muscle” in the Liberal conservative right faction or a “power broker” in the party.

Elliott, who was the police minister in the Berejiklian government, was subsequently moved to the transport portfolio in a reshuffle. Last week, Elliott told the inquiry he was targeted by Nassif due to his opposition to Toplace developments.

The inquiry has previously heard legally intercepted phone calls featuring Nassif in which he claimed he had “forced the boys” to get rid of Elliott’s seat of Baulkham Hills, and had sent “Castle Hill fucking hundreds of new members”. Elliott retired from politics before the March 2023 election after his seat was abolished and he could not find sufficient support from branches in Castle Hill.

Charles Perrottet, and Liberal operatives Christian Ellis and Jeremy Greenwood, allegedly anticipated receiving $2m to be distributed evenly between them from Nassif. The commission has heard Anita Perrottet allegedly received Charles’s share through invoices from her business Macquarie Consulting to lobbying companies Beckington, controlled by Ellis and Greenwood, and JPG Advisory, controlled by Greenwood.

On Friday, Charles Perrottet told the inquiry he began to provide advice to Nassif on his developments through Beckington, after being introduced to him by Greenwood in late 2019 or early 2020. He said he and Nassif met face-to-face 10 to 12 times.

Asked if Greenwood suggested he “share in the financial spoils” of the advice, Charles Perrottet, who already had a paid job at BP, told the hearing they agreed to an arrangement under which Anita would be compensated.

“I think the words to the effect were, ‘You’ve got a commercial relationship with Anita. She’s enjoying coming back to work. Just continue that relationship and look after her.’”

Charles Perrottet told the inquiry he would tell Nassif “what he wanted to hear,” and that Nassif was aware he was a member of the conservative right faction.

“Predominantly, he would complain about what he saw was unfair treatment for his projects. He’d complain about individuals,” Charles Perrottet said.

“He was very unhappy with David Elliott. I would tell him that there were plans like that [to get rid of David Elliott]. I was supportive of that position, but that was very different to what was actually occurring within the party.”

Charles Perrottet said it was “not accurate” to say his and Nassif’s goals aligned, but admitted to a longstanding feud with Elliott’s centre-right faction, following factional efforts that forced Dominic Perrottet to move from the seat of Castle Hill to Hawkesbury at the 2015 election.

“If they’d never kicked Dom out of Castle Hill in 2015, perhaps all of them would still be in their seat,” Charles Perrottet told the inquiry on Friday.

Earlier, Anita Perrottet, who said she was not aware of Nassif at the time besides from “media reports”, was shown an email sent in October 2020 from her company account to a lobbyist sharing a “detailed summary” of one of Nassif’s developments in Rosebery in inner Sydney, mentioning Nassif and Toplace multiple times.

Dwyer asked: “You’re not prepared to admit that because you don’t want to get your husband Charles in trouble for doing work for Jean Nassif or Toplace?”

“No, it’s because I am genuinely telling the truth and trying to assist the commission,” Anita Perrottet replied.

Charles Perrottet, who has taken a leave of absence from BP during the inquiry, is expected to appear before the commission again on Monday and Tuesday next week.

On Thursday, Icac announced that Nassif, who fled Australia for Lebanon in 2022, would appear by video link. He has previously denied any wrongdoing.

The inquiry continues.