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Jean Nassif reappears at NSW ICAC hearing via video link from Lebanon to give evidence

Posted Tue 15 Sep 2026 at 2:13pmTue 15 Sep 2026 at 2:13pmTue 15 Sep 2026 at 2:13pm

Fugitive property developer Jean Nassif has dialled into a hearing of the NSW corruption watchdog from Lebanon for a second day.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is examining whether Mr Nassif, the founder of failed property group Toplace, paid Liberal Party operatives to achieve political outcomes that would favour his developments.

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Tue 15 Sep 2026 at 2:37pmTue 15 Sep 2026 at 2:37pm

Another Nassif rant

Nassif has fully lost his cool now.

The fugitive developer is shouting and is bordering on tears.

Peggy Dwyer was only asking him about texts between other witnesses.

“Look counsellor, you have been going around in circles.” he shouts.

“Why? You have not yet asked me what happened between me and David Elliott and his boys.

“Why? You haven’t asked me any question about the corrupt politician in the government that should be in jail.

“You don’t understand I’m not a corrupt person.”

Nassif, over two days, has consistently denied he paid conservative powerbrokers to directly influence NSW politics.

Peggy Dwyers asks him if a payment of $148,500 to NSW Liberal party members was “a first installment to help with preselection and other political outcomes”.

Nassif says he “might have” handed over the cheque, but with a disclaimer that it was not for political favours.

“Not true,” he says.

Mr Nassif is clearly exasperated.

On Ms Dwyer’s suggestion he stop talking over her:

“You don’t want me to relay the truth,” he says.

Mr Nassif is getting tired of being taken through texts of other witnesses.

Ms Dwyer is going over the messages of Liberal Party powerbrokers who worked to solve Mr Nassif’s issues with the government.

“I’m not aware of what they planning behind the scene,” Mr Nassif says.

“And who is sharing the money with and who they talking to.

“I employed a consultant to solve my problems and unblock the way for politicians, cook politicians. This is not the way Australia should be run.”

Jean Nassif is being taken through previously heard evidence by counsel assisting the inquiry Peggy Dwyer.

Wearing a blue button-up shirt from Beirut, he’s setting an early tone for his evidence.

“Can I tell you something?” Mr Nassif says.

“This is an issue amongst them [the Reformers] and between them.

“I am not involved in paying politics to get my projects approved, I employed consultant to support me.

“What they did, if they did any corrupt work, I am not involved with it, I am not aware of it.”

Fugitive property developer Jean Nassif has returned to the ICAC witness box, on a video call from Lebanon, to give evidence for a second day.

Mr Nassif, wanted for fraud offences by NSW Police, is voluntarily giving evidence to an inquiry that centres around his alleged bankrolling of a faction of the NSW Liberals, despite being a prohibited donor.

The Toplace founder on Monday told the commission it was “my pleasure” to fund lobbyists, who dubbed themselves ‘the Reformers’, to the tune of millions.

Mr Nassif admitted he offered to pay the group in a bid to get his political enemies “off my back”.

Those so-called enemies — former Hills MP David Elliott, ex-Building Commissioner David Chandler and broadcaster Ray Hadley — were among those who Mr Nassif blasted during his evidence on Monday.

Mr Nassif appeared via video-link from his bedroom in Lebanon on Monday to give his version of events under oath.

He agreed he had offered members of the Liberal Party right faction, known as the Reformers, up to $1 million if they helped some stalled developments progress.

While denying he paid bribes or sought to influence political outcomes, Mr Nassif, who is subject to an international arrest warrant on fraud charges, said he did want the former NSW police minister David Elliott and former NSW building commissioner David Chandler “off my back”.

In a secretly-recorded phone call from 2021, Mr Nassif was heard bragging he held up to 52 per cent of power in the state government. He told the hearing on Monday he was speaking “nonsense”.

The NSW ICAC’s Operation Rosny is investigating a raft of allegations related to potential breaches of electoral donation laws.