Lobbying firm linked to Reformers created fake administrative assistant named ‘Jessica’, Icac hears

A former lobbying firm which allegedly accepted illegal donations to fund factional Liberal party work created a fake administrative assistant called “Jessica”, an inquiry has heard.Consultant and lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood gave his second day of evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s (Icac) Operation Rosny on Tuesday.Icac is investigating whether a Christian Liberal factional group known as the Reformers – who wanted more conservative policies on issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia – solicited or accepted prohibited donations for the recruitment or renewal of members to the party. The practice, known as branch stacking, is not itself illegal.Icac is investigating whether the former registered lobbying company Beckington, set up by Greenwood and Reformer Christian Ellis in 2019, accepted payments for factional work through fake invoices to Michael O’Hara, a prohibited donor, and the schools governing body Catholic Schools NSW. Greenwood has said he cannot recall either arrangement.On Tuesday, counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer SC, read out 2020 correspondence from Beckington to Catholic Schools NSW with invoices, signed “Kind regards, Jessica”. “Who’s Jessica?” she asked.“Sorry, I’m not laughing,” said Greenwood. “Jessica was a fake admin name Christian created. He just thought it was funny.”After Dwyer said she was “not getting the joke”, Greenwood said: “We have silly humour. Sorry.”Greenwood, a founding director of Beckington, said he could not recall if the company paid Reformers members to do factional work. He said he believed the company had made payments to Jean-Claude Perrottet, the younger brother of Dominic Perrottet. Dominic Perrottet is not named in Icac’s allegations.“If he wanted money, we looked after him,” said Greenwood, who later admitted to a payment of $12,000 to Jean-Claude Perrottet, who he described as his “favourite friend”. Dwyer put it to him that the money was for Reformers recruitment work.Greenwood said: “I didn’t care about the recruitment work. I felt for him. He wanted to get married. He didn’t have a job.”He was shown an invoice to Beckington for consulting fees from Jean Claude Perrottet for $5,500. Under repeated questioning from Dwyer, he said “to the best of my knowledge”, he was not aware of Jean-Claude Perrottet ever carrying out consulting work for the company.Ellis moved to the UK at the start of this year, and the inquiry has heard he declined to give oral evidence, but on Monday Greenwood insisted his friend did want to give evidence.On Tuesday, the inquiry heard Ellis rang Greenwood at 6am on encrypted messaging app Signal.Greenwood said Ellis had asked him, “‘What was the reaction to you saying I wanted to appear?’ And I said, ‘Just noted.’” He said he could not recall if he had discussed payments to Jean-Claude Perrottet with Ellis.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionGreenwood defended saying in a compulsory examination prior to public hearings that he had not heard of O’Hara before Icac’s inquiry was announced. O’Hara has admitted to making payments to Beckington for factional Liberal work under fake invoices, but disputed whether they counted as political donations.On Tuesday, Greenwood admitted to having first heard O’Hara’s name mentioned in 2019 or 2020. He said the compulsory examination had taken place immediately after a return flight following a trip to the UK in June, during which he met with Ellis at least four times, and the men had been drinking.“We were at a pub every single time we caught up from about midday to 9pm on my days off from a conference,” he said.Greenwood, who is named in two of the watchdog’s allegations, has repeatedly disputed being a member of the Reformers. On Monday he said there was not a “shred of evidence” that showed he was involved in the group.On Tuesday, he told the commission that “hearing things when you’re having a beer at a pub is not actively engaging in the [Reformers] work”.He was asked about being privy to and responding to messages in which the Reformers discussed recruitment work. Greenwood repeatedly said he was not an “active participant” in group chats.Icac’s inquiry continues.