*This post will be updated whenever additional information becomes available*
The NSW Independent Commission Against
Corruption (ICAC) began a public inquiry on 27 March 2018.
ICAC’s
media
release of 7 March 2018 stated in part:
“….as part of an
investigation it is conducting into allegations concerning the Awabakal Local
Aboriginal Land Council (LALC) (Operation Skyline).
The Commission is investigating whether any public official, being a Awabakal LALC Board director, acted dishonestly and/or in breach of their duty as a Board member in relation to a scheme involving proposals from 2014 to 2016 for the sale and development of properties (“the Sale and Development Scheme”) owned by the land council.
The Commission is also investigating whether any Awabakal LALC Board director acted dishonestly and/or in breach of their duty as a Board member in purporting to retain, or retaining, Knightsbridge North Lawyers or anyone else to act for the land council in respect of the Sale and Development Scheme.
Further, the ICAC is investigating whether any Awabakal LALC Board director: acted dishonestly and/or in breach of their duty as a Board member by participating in, or aiding or assisting any person in relation to, the Sale and Development Scheme including dealings with Sunshine Property Investment Group Pty Ltd, Sunshine Warners Pty Ltd, Solstice Property Corporation Pty Ltd and Advantage Property Experts Syndications Pty Ltd and/or Advantage Property Syndications Ltd; and whether they received any financial or other benefits as a reward or payment for their involvement in, or for their assistance or services rendered in relation to, the Sale and Development Scheme or any connected matter.
The Commission is also examining whether any person or persons encouraged or induced any Awabakal LALC Board director to dishonestly or partially exercise any of their official functions in respect of the Sale and Development Scheme and any other land council property, or otherwise engaged in conduct connected with corrupt conduct within the meaning of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988.
The public inquiry will start at 10:00 am and will be held in the Commission's hearing room on Level 7, 255 Elizabeth Street, Sydney. Chief Commissioner the Hon Peter Hall QC will preside at the public inquiry, and Counsel Assisting the Commission will be Dr Nicholas Chen SC and Ms Juliet Curtin.
The inquiry is set down for approximately three weeks. A witness list for at least the first week of the proceedings will be published on the ICAC website prior to the commencement of the public inquiry.”
The Commission is investigating whether any public official, being a Awabakal LALC Board director, acted dishonestly and/or in breach of their duty as a Board member in relation to a scheme involving proposals from 2014 to 2016 for the sale and development of properties (“the Sale and Development Scheme”) owned by the land council.
The Commission is also investigating whether any Awabakal LALC Board director acted dishonestly and/or in breach of their duty as a Board member in purporting to retain, or retaining, Knightsbridge North Lawyers or anyone else to act for the land council in respect of the Sale and Development Scheme.
Further, the ICAC is investigating whether any Awabakal LALC Board director: acted dishonestly and/or in breach of their duty as a Board member by participating in, or aiding or assisting any person in relation to, the Sale and Development Scheme including dealings with Sunshine Property Investment Group Pty Ltd, Sunshine Warners Pty Ltd, Solstice Property Corporation Pty Ltd and Advantage Property Experts Syndications Pty Ltd and/or Advantage Property Syndications Ltd; and whether they received any financial or other benefits as a reward or payment for their involvement in, or for their assistance or services rendered in relation to, the Sale and Development Scheme or any connected matter.
The Commission is also examining whether any person or persons encouraged or induced any Awabakal LALC Board director to dishonestly or partially exercise any of their official functions in respect of the Sale and Development Scheme and any other land council property, or otherwise engaged in conduct connected with corrupt conduct within the meaning of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988.
The public inquiry will start at 10:00 am and will be held in the Commission's hearing room on Level 7, 255 Elizabeth Street, Sydney. Chief Commissioner the Hon Peter Hall QC will preside at the public inquiry, and Counsel Assisting the Commission will be Dr Nicholas Chen SC and Ms Juliet Curtin.
The inquiry is set down for approximately three weeks. A witness list for at least the first week of the proceedings will be published on the ICAC website prior to the commencement of the public inquiry.”
Transcripts of Operation Skyline public hearings can be found here.
Note: PURSUANT TO SECTION 112
OF THE ICAC ACT, A SUPPRESSION ORDER IS MADE PROTECTING AGAINST ANY
DISSEMINATION OF ANY PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESSES, PRIVATE ADDRESSES OR PHONE
NUMBERS CONTAINED IN EACH OF THE EXHIBITS TO BE UPLOADED ONTO AND PUBLISHED ON
THE COMMISSION’S WEBSITE. I MAKE THAT ORDER SUBJECT TO ANY FURTHER ORDER OF THE
COMMISSION.
WEEK 1 WITNESS LIST
Tuesday 27 March
Terrence Henry Lawler - government appointed Administrator of the Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Terrence Henry Lawler - government appointed Administrator of the Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Wednesday 28 March
Terrence Henry Lawler - government appointed Administrator of the Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Omar Bin Abdullah - building design consultant & sole director/shareholder Alamco Pty Ltd (currently under external administration)
Steven Mark Slee - former CEO Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council, former director
Awabakal Cooperative and Yarnteen College
Cyril Philemon Gabey - one of three directors at The Indigenous Business Union Pty Ltd (IBU) (deregistered 15/01/2017)
Thursday 29 MarchTerrence Henry Lawler - government appointed Administrator of the Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Omar Bin Abdullah - building design consultant & sole director/shareholder Alamco Pty Ltd (currently under external administration)
Steven Mark Slee - former CEO Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council, former director
Awabakal Cooperative and Yarnteen College
Cyril Philemon Gabey - one of three directors at The Indigenous Business Union Pty Ltd (IBU) (deregistered 15/01/2017)
John Terry Hancock - former board member Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council Eleanor Swan - former board member Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council
WEEK 2 WITNESS LIST
Tuesday 3 April
Eleanor W Swan
Deborah June Swan -
Larry Warren Slee - former board member Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council, father of Steven Mark SleeWednesday 4 April
Matthew Fisk - employee of Tony Zong first at Sunshine Property Investment Group and later at Luxeland Group
Tony Zong (Shuxin Zong) - sole director and shareholder of Sunshine Property Investment Group Pty Limited, a commercial fitout & building company
Diane "Dan Dan" Ren - property developer, co-director and co-shareholder of Luxeland Group Pty Ltd with Tony Zong *not questioned on the day*
Thursday 5 April
Tony Zong (Shuxin Zong) - sole director and shareholder of Sunshine Property Investment Group Pty Limited, a commercial fitout & building company
Nicole Steadman - former interim chair of Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council *not questioned on the day*
Friday 6 April
Tony Zong (Shuxin Zong) - sole director and shareholder of Sunshine Property Investment Group Pty Limited, a commercial fitout & building company
Larry Warren Slee - former board member Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council, father of Steven Mark Slee
Ronald Wayne Jordan
Candy Towers - member Awabakal community, former employee
WEEK 3 WITNESS LIST
Monday 9 April
Larry Warren Slee - former board member Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council, father of Steven Mark Slee
Leonard James Quinlan
Dr. Raymond Kelly - former board member Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council
Tuesday 10 April
Dr. Raymond Kelly - former board member Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council
Ronald Wayne Jordan - former board member Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council, employed by family business
WEEK 3 WITNESS LIST
Monday 9 April
Larry Warren Slee - former board member Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council, father of Steven Mark Slee
Leonard James Quinlan
Dr. Raymond Kelly - former board member Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council
Tuesday 10 April
Dr. Raymond Kelly - former board member Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council
Ronald Wayne Jordan - former board member Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council, employed by family business
Ian Sheriff - solicitor *not questioned on the day*
Wednesday 11 April
Keith Kang Rhee - co-director and one of two shareholders in of Keeju Pty Ltd a family sushi business
Sammy Sayed aka Sam Say - said to be in real estate/properties
Thursday 12 April
Sammy Sayed
Ian Sheriff
Diane "Dan Dan" Ren - property developer, co-director and co-shareholder of Luxeland Group Pty Ltd with Tony Zong
Friday 13 April
Nicole Steadman - former interim chair of Awabakal Local Aboriginal
Land Council
Candy Towers - member Awabakal community, former employee
The
Sydney Morning Herald report
on Day One of the hearings, 27 March 2018:
Disgraced former
assistant tax commissioner Nick Petroulias has resurfaced at the centre of a
corruption probe into a series of deals to sell off up to $30 million worth of
Aboriginal land in the NSW Hunter region.
Mr Petroulias was one of
the country's most senior public servants before his high-profile jailing in
2008 for corrupt conduct and unauthorised publication of Commonwealth documents.
The first day of public
inquiry by the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) has heard that
Mr Petroulias played a "central role" in three deals - and one
attempted deal - to sell off land belonging to the Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land
Council.
In one of the more
extraordinary allegations, Mr Petroulias was accused of signing a 2014 deal on
behalf of a company director who was already dead at the time he was appointed.
The deals took place
between 2014 and 2016, with the most lucrative worth $30 million, the inquiry
heard.
In his opening address,
counsel assisting Nicholas Chen SC alleged that Mr Petroulias used a "two
dollar company" he controlled - known as Gows Heat - to obtain purchase
rights over several parcels of Awabakal land.
"Mr Petroulias at
that time had recently been made a bankrupt," Mr Chen told the inquiry.
"Neither Gows Heat nor Mr Petroulias paid any money to the land council to
secure this 'right'."
It was alleged Mr
Petroulias on-sold the purchase rights to a new buyer and then attempted to
on-sell the rights again to another buyer, while both remained unaware of the
other's existence.
"Gows Heat and Mr
Petroulias secured a significant windfall: he sold this "right",
around six months later, and received around $1.1 million as a result," Mr
Chen said.
Whether Awabakal's board
was aware of these deals - and how the deals could go ahead without disclosure
to the board - will be investigated by the inquiry.
The inquiry will also
examine the actions of two former Awabakal board members involved in the
transactions - Richard Green and Debbie Dates - and a lawyer who executed the
deals on the land council's behalf.
That solicitor, Despina
Bakis, was the sole director of Sydney firm Knightsbridge North Lawyers. Mr
Chen noted that she had been in what could be described as an "on-again,
off-again" relationship with Mr Petroulias for about 20 years.
Mr Chen noted that
neither Ms Bakis or Mr Petroulias were Indigenous and Ms Bakis had "no
relevant experience" in undertaking the kind of work she was tasked to do
by the land council.
The inquiry heard Mr
Petroulias has adopted a string of aliases, including Nick or Nicholas Piers;
Nick or Nicholas Pearson and Nick or Nicholas Petersen.
A number of corporate
entities with links to Mr Petroulias had been created using the identities of
people that knew nothing of their involvement, Mr Chen alleged.
Mr Lawler has
reported the matters to police....
Mr Chen described Ms Bakis’ appointment as “more than a little curious”, given that the land council had been making use of a “highly experienced” commercial and property lawyer.
The
Newcastle Herald
reporting on Day One, 28 March 2018:
The land council's
administrator, Terry Lawler, took to the witness box on Tuesday afternoon,
testifying that he found no copies of any agreements to sell Awabakal land when
he was installed by the state government in 2016.
Mr Petroulias,
representing himself, grilled Mr Lawler over what he told Awabakal members
before they voted on one of the land deals.
"Did you mention
that I was a criminal to the membership of the meeting?," he asked.
Mr Lawler responded that
a solicitor acting for him may have, but added “fact’s facts”.
When he put the issue to
a vote, there was a "sea of hands" against the proposal, Mr
Lawler said.
“One of the members
actually said: ‘are you a comedian?’,” he recalled.
Mr Lawler told the
inquiry that when he was first made aware of the deal, involving a company
called Advantage Property Experts Syndications, he “didn’t have any
information” about whether it was a good or bad deal.
However he was stunned
at proposals relating to the post office.
“The thing that did
really strike me, and I remember thinking ‘this bloke’s delusional’, is that he
said to me ‘part and parcel of this is we're going to do up the post
office and hand it back to the NSW state government so as they’ll provide us
with a strategic state development approval for the development of Hillsborough
Road,” Mr Lawler told the inquiry.
“I found that an
interesting statement, because that's just not the way things work.”
Mr Lawler also noticed a
number of typos within the agreement.
“To be frank some of the
agreements I found extremely difficult to read, understand, there
were differing parties … one party on the cover sheet another party in the
agreement, there were references to agreements even then that I hadn’t seen,”
he said.
Mr Lawler claimed he has
since been the target of abusive, defamatory and inaccurate letters
and a “slanderous” social media campaign.
He alleged a businessman
associated with Advantage and two other people stood outside a recent Awabakal
meeting, handing out flyers making similar allegations.
“My local residential
area was letter-boxed with those flyers that same evening and it’s clear from
the Facebook post from Advantage that I’m being stalked,” he said.
“There are quite a lot
of photos that are nothing other than me just going about my business.”
Mr Chen described Ms Bakis’ appointment as “more than a little curious”, given that the land council had been making use of a “highly experienced” commercial and property lawyer.
He further alleged that
Ms Bakis was appointed by Mr Green without the board’s authority until a motion
to ratify her appointment more than a year later.
It’s understood that Ms
Bakis will argue that she was always given to understand her appointment was
authorised.
Mr Lawler told the
hearing that when he was installed he did not find any records relating to
Ms Bakis’ appointment and when he asked for them, it triggered a “flow” of
abusive material.
“Abuse, complaints,
accusations and being told that she’s not my secretary and that I’m a thief, it
just goes on,” he said.
“I have never
experienced – let alone from a professional person – I’ve never
experienced the style in which Ms Bakis writes … clearly [she was] an
angry little ant.”
The
Newcastle Herald reporting
on Day Two, 28 March 2018:
A corruption
inquiry has been told board minutes of the Awabakal land council appear to have
been falsified to show it voted in favour of selling land to a company tied to
disgraced former assistant tax commissioner Nick Petroulias.
It came as a Sydney
developer told the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) he did not
understand how a reference to the same company – Gows Heat Pty Ltd – ended up
in documentation he prepared on the development of the land….
Mr Petroulias was a
“common feature” in all of the deals and Gows Heat a shelf company he
controlled, it has been alleged.
In the witness box on
Wednesday was Omar Abdullah, a building designer and new home specialist based
in Sydney.
He made an overture to
the land council in late 2014, after he was informed by a business contact it
had property ripe for development.
Mr Abdullah told the
inquiry he was given an opportunity to meet with Awabakal’s board and present
it with discussion material on potential developments.
He felt the presentation
was met with a “positive reaction”, but Mr Abdullah did not pursue
a deal when he got “nothing formal back” from the board.
The inquiry previously
heard a “critical matter” will be an allegation from Mr Petroulias that the
presentation was made jointly with Gows Heat.
When asked if he had
ever heard of Gows, Mr Abdullah replied “absolutely not”.
Mr Abdullah was then
shown a document that appeared to be identical to the one he circulated during
the presentation, but included a reference to Gows Heat.
“I’ve never seen this
document,” he said.
The land council’s chief
executive at the time, Steven Slee, was questioned over his recollection
events.
Mr Slee told the inquiry
the board resolved to contact Mr Abdullah to pursue the land proposal, a
resolution reflected in typed and signed minutes and a “running list” of
resolutions kept at the land council’s offices.
Council assisting
Nicholas Chen SC tendered those documents as evidence, before presenting Mr
Slee with an additional book containing handwritten minutes.
Mr Slee agreed it
appeared someone had written extra words around the resolution.
He was unable to
decipher what they said, but observed they started with the letters
“Go”.
Mr Slee was then shown a
different resolution that appeared to have been stapled into the minute book,
recording a decision to push ahead with the sale of the land to Gows
Heat.
“Mr Slee, whilst you
were CEO was it the practice of the board to staple resolutions into minute
books?” Mr Chen asked.
“No,” Mr Slee responded,
agreeing it appeared someone had tampered with the minutes. He was unable to
pinpoint who it might be.
The
Newcastle Herald reporting on Day Five, 5 April 2018:
As an experienced
property developer and qualified valuer based in Sydney, Matthew Fisk knew his
way around a land deal.
But as he bargained with
the Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council over land it owned at Warners Bay,
there were aspects of the negotiations that struck him as strange.
One of the more
“unusual” elements, Mr Fisk told an Independent Commission against Corruption
inquiry, was the role of disgraced former assistant tax commissioner Nick
Petroulias and an instance where Mr Petroulias allegedly “scribbled out” a
figure in a contract….
Mr Zong later took
– and dropped – legal action against the land council, claiming he
was not informed the deal did not have proper authorisation.
Mr Zong’s involvement
began in 2015, when he attended a meeting at Warners Bay McDonalds over a
potential land deal.
Mr Fisk told the inquiry
he accompanied Mr Zong to the meeting, also attended by Mr Green and Mr
Petroulias.
The parties
were allegedly brought together by a former inmate who served time
with Mr Petroulias at Silverwater jail – Sammy Say – who was
acquainted with a contact of Mr Zong.
Mr Fisk recalled one of
the third parties introducing Mr Petroulias as a lawyer acting for the
land council.
So he was
surprised – at the end of a tour – when he was informed that Mr
Petroulias had a “larger interest”.
“I believe it was Sammy
Say that had used words to the effect that Nick has already put the deal
together,” Mr Fisk recalled. “Then Nick proceeded with he already has an
option to acquire these five parcels of land and it would be, in fact, us
… acquiring Nick’s option moving forward.”
An option is where a
potential buyer pays a vendor for the right to purchase their property at
a fixed price at a later time. The vendor can not sell the property to a third
party in that period.
Council assisting
Nicholas Chen asked Mr Fisk if he thought it unusual that the land council’s
lawyer would have an option over its land.
“I thought it was quite
unusual, particularly that when I asked what the purchase price was I was told
that it was to be subject to valuation,” Mr Fisk said.
According to Mr Fisk,
another odd twist came as a contract was being signed with the amount
to be paid out to Gows Heat.
“After Mr Zong had
signed the document Mr Petroulias then lent over, scribbled out $250,000, wrote
$673,000 and then initialled it,” Mr Fisk said.
“Tony [Zong] said, look,
he said to Nick, ‘what are you doing?’ I don’t recall the response that was
given but I found it very unusual.”
Other media reports on Operation Skyline hearings:
North Coast Voices’ readers might recall that Nick Petroulias (using the name Nicholas Peterson) and Richard Green gave sworn evidence before the NSW Legislative Council General Purpose
Standing Committee No. 6 INQUIRY
INTO CROWN LAND, as
part of United Land Councils' lobbying for the potentially environmentally destructive Yamba Mega
Port proposal.
Before Operation Skyline’s public hearing began,
one of those named in the inquiry began short-lived and unsuccessful proceedings in Knightsbridge North Lawyers Pty Limited v Independent Commission Against Corruption.
The matter of
the proposed Awabakal land sales was also before the NSW Supreme Court in 2017….
The
Newcastle Herald,
21 October 2017:
The matter is the
subject of a Supreme Court legal battle that veteran lawyers have described as
one of the most extraordinary cases they have seen in their careers.
Labelled by a lawyer
familiar with the case as a real-life version of “Alice in Wonderland”, its
cast of characters includes an international fugitive known as Robbie Rocket, a
convicted drug dealer and a dead company director who somehow continued signing
agreements a year after he was cremated in a Sydney cemetery.
The existence of an
international money laundering syndicate and a karaoke junket intended as a
bribery attempt are among the other sensational allegations contained within
thousands of pages of evidence that have been tendered to the court.
Last year in an unrelated matter Mr. Petroulias was the defendant in Director
of Public Prosecutions (Cth) v Petroulias [2017] NSWSC 1290 (28 September 2017), excerpts:
When this matter came on
for hearing before me there was no appearance on behalf of the defendant. The
defendant now goes by the name Michael Felson. For abundant caution both of his
names were called outside court three times….
During the hearing I was
informed that the defendant is an undischarged bankrupt. He was declared
bankrupt by a sequestration order made by the Federal Circuit Court on 23
October 2014. His statement of affairs was filed on 10 March 2015. He will thus
be eligible to be discharged from bankruptcy on 10 March 2018.
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