Just weeks after the Independent Commission Against Corruption completed its public hearings into governance issues at the University of Wollongong, the next inquiry rolled into Elizabeth Street in Sydney’s CBD.
Operation Rosny was one of political intrigue, backroom dealings, blackmail, “shit sheets”, threats, and dollars - many millions of them. And, of course, power … much like the majority of ICAC inquiries.
There were 38 sitting days over 10 weeks, 100-plus exhibits, and almost 5000 pages of transcripts from 20 witnesses at the public inquiry since it began on July 27, 2026.
This is by no means an all-encompassing analysis of the public hearings, you can find a more detailed, week-by-week reckoning here. For a TL:DR account, try the below - with some amazing quotes included.
The factional payroll and political ‘donations’
The inquiry began by exposing the financial machinations behind “The Reformers,” a conservative Liberal subfaction which included operatives Christian Ellis, Jean-Claude Perrottet, Charles Perrottet, and Jeremy Greenwood. Public and corporate funds were systematically deployed to fund political branch-stacking during office hours. This phase culminated in former Catholic Schools CEO Dallas McInerney performing a sudden weekend “factory reset” on his corporate devices after being ordered to produce WhatsApp logs - stopping counsel assisting Dr Peggy Dwyer in her tracks (no mean feat in itself).
The quotes that mattered
Michael O’Hara, explaining his hands-off approach to political contributions and his complete surprise at facing an ICAC corruption inquiry:
“I was never anticipating sitting in a courtroom having to answer these questions. Get a phone call, get an email, bang, dealt with, next.”
Dallas McInerney, explaining why he wiped his corporate iPhone and iPad over the weekend after being formally ordered by the ICAC to produce critical WhatsApp communications:
“A factory reset is a factory reset ... You lose everything in the factory reset.”
Charles Perrottet, defends his habit of fabricating stories of high-level government intervention to keep property developer Jean Nassif paying Beckington’s lucrative retainers.
“Look, in politics sometimes, you know, you say things to people that aren’t 100% the truth.”
The watchdog target & fugitive developer
The focus shifted to Parliament House where backroom operatives spoke of covert videos, leaked “shit sheets,” and wiretapped phone calls. The-then Building Commissioner David Chandler became the target of a high-level campaign because his zero-tolerance on standards threatened developer Jean Nassif’s $1.6 billion Toplace empire.
The quotes that mattered
Charles Perrottet admitted under oath that his text to Jean Nassif claiming he personally intervened to halt a departmental inspection of Skyview was a complete lie.
Dr Dwyer: "Who was your contact in the department?"
Mr Perrottet: "I made that up."
Jean Nassif explained why he believed Building Commissioner David Chandler’s defect notices and media reports were part of a coordinated conspiracy against him”
Ray Hadley and David Elliott and Chandler, they’re one person. They’re a crook... They were talking about fabricating the problems by Chandler and Chandler’s voice.”
Assistant Commissioner Fabian Gleeson had just attempted to calm down Toplace founder Nassif after a series of loud, emotional rants against former Police Minister David Elliott and Building Commissioner David Chandler:
“Mr Nassif, my name’s Gleeson, I’m the Assistant Commissioner. I’d ask you to please just pause, take a breath, and would you please listen to Ms Dwyer’s next question? She’s going to take you to a different topic... I’d like you to just pause, no, no. Please listen to me. I’ve listened to you.”
Nassif: “No. No. No. No. No. No. No one can make me shut up. If, if you guys not going to attack the problems in this investigation, I need to pull out, and now.”
Blackmail & covert surveillance
Allegation 3 was the third formal limb of Operation Rosny. It brought local council politics into the inquiry. It was folded into Operation Rosny because it shared the exact same operational DNA. Sharangan Maheswaran, who was simultaneously Jean Nassif’s executive lawyer at Toplace and a Strathfield Labor councillor, used Toplace funds and the same private investigator Shane De Kauwe to run a covert "dirt and surveillance campaign" against Strathfield independent mayor Matthew Blackmore to force his resignation.
The quotes that mattered
Counsel Assisting ICAC Dr Peggy Dwyer SC’s opening address outlined the legal threshold for blackmail and illegal recording under Allegation 3:
“Simply believing that a political opponent is dodgy... does not justify the making of a demand with menaces... That framing does not displace the operation of the law.”
David Elliott mocked Shane De Kauwe, the private eye hired by Jean Nassif to spy on him, after the investigator targeted the wrong house and car:
"He was the Maxwell Smart of private investigators.”
Sharangan Maheswaran text Shane De Kauwe on WhatsApp immediately after the council meeting, confirming that revealing the secret surveillance was the explicit lever used to force Mayor Blackmore’s resignation.
“I had to tell him he had been surveilled to get him to resign.”
What’s next?
The commission has set a “standard time frame” of 180 days after final submissions for reports to be tabled in NSW Parliament. However, witnesses in previous high-profile ICAC inquiries have waited longer for findings. But if Assistant Commissioner Gleeson’s push to keep the inquiry moving is any guide, a lengthy delay seems unlikely.
ICAC has made no findings in Operation Rosny. All individuals named are the subject of allegations being examined at a public inquiry.
Operation Rosny involves allegations concerning people associated with the NSW Liberal Party, Catholic Schools NSW CEO Dallas McInerney, property developer Jean Nassif, hotelier Michael O’Hara, Strathfield councillors and others. To read the allegations in full, go to the dedicated ICAC Operation Rosny page