Tapped phone calls from 2021 between the former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet's brother Jean-Claude and controversial property developer Jean Nassif were played at a NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing on Thursday.
Towards the conclusion of the extended hearing, counsel assisting Juliet Curtin explicitly put to Jean-Claude Perrottet, who worked at Medallion Financial, that illicit political donations were at play.
"I was thinking to give it to your brother for pre-selection ... can you give the $100(K) to your brother?" Nassif is heard saying without specifying which Perrottet would receive the funds.
Ms Curtin suggested the explicit talk about donations was to branch-stack seats spearheaded by the Reformers, a conservative Christian faction among state Liberals, in breach of electoral funding laws.
But Jean-Claude Perrottet rejected her premise.
"It's pretty clear how junior I am and then he starts talking about politics. It's clear that I'm calling him about his investment portfolio," he told the inquiry.
"This is obviously just some nonsense. I mean, you can hear from my tone on the phone."
In the expletive-ridden calls, Nassif also demanded former Building Commissioner David Chandler be stopped from scrutinising his extensive property projects throughout Sydney.
He aggressively lambasted former transport and police minister David Elliott, at one point calling him a racist.Â
Jean-Claude Perrottet dubbed the profane-laced exhortations "crazy talk".
When Ms Curtin asked why he thanked Nassif for "all the support for the family", Jean-Claude Perrottet dismissed it as a "throwaway comment".
In texts read out earlier at the hearing, a former staffer to Dominic Perrottet and other federal Liberal MPs, now-lobbyist Christian Ellis, told Jean-Claude Perrottet to include tax in invoices.
"It's 5K, not five and a half K - you sneaky man," Mr Ellis wrote in a text message.
"Ha ha ha! I just asked Rob how I do invoice," replied Jean-Claude Perrottet, who had aspirations of joining the finance industry at the time.
In another instance, Mr Ellis wrote "you slippery man".
Pub scion Michael O'Hara earlier told the commission he agreed to support the Reformers via monthly $5000 donations paid to a consultancy firm called Beckington, owned by the group's co-founder Mr Ellis.
After that arrangement faltered due to differences over vaccines, Jean-Claude Perrottet worked closely with Jeremy Greenwood, another Liberal operative-turned lobbyist.
Jean-Claude Perrottet vehemently denied Ms Curtin's suggestions he was carrying out factional work and being paid by various entities.
Ms Curtin said monthly payments of $5000 by Mr O'Hara and later, for the same amount by Mr Greenwood via a rolling contract with Catholic Schools NSW, belied that fact.
But Jean-Claude Perrottet said the "generous" funds were a "handshake agreement" between friends.
Ms Curtin also asked him about a previous encrypted WhatsApp message, accusing him of concealing a bogus contract with the Catholic education body to further the Reformers' influence.
"Hey so you know how I'm good to you and help you and give you your filthy schools money. And put up with your f***ing whining," Mr Greenwood wrote.
"Don't put that in writing," Mr Perrottet replied, to which Mr Greenwood assured him "it deletes".
Questioned about this exchange, Jean-Claude Perrottet chalked up the language used as a joke, saying he was having a "crack" at him.
"It's not ridiculous, it's revealing," Ms Curtin retorted.
In another tense grilling on Thursday, she forcefully told him "you're just making things up".
Mr O'Hara was legally prohibited from giving political donations due to associations with the liquor and gaming industries.
"I never considered this a donation, a gift," Jean-Claude Perrottet said of the instalments from Mr O'Hara.
"He was getting the pursuit of ... our goals, which was social change and making a difference, and getting people fired up."
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