Last week Maheswaran was questioned about his employment with Toplace, his relationship with developer Jean Nassif, and his connections to lobbyists Jeremy Greenwood and Christian Ellis, prompting further scrutiny from the anti‑corruption commission.
Counsel assisting Dr Peggy Dwyer, SC, has described the tangled web of companies and political groups under investigation as a “money train”, underscoring the difficulty of tracing the flow of funds across the network.
Central to the probe is the Beckington Group, a lobbying and government‑relations firm founded by Greenwood and Ellis, which earlier ICAC hearings identified as employing witness Dylan Whitelaw.
During those hearings, Charles Perrottet testified that he was helping friends pursue developer Jean Nassif for money owed to Beckington for services rendered on Nassif’s projects, suggesting a possible quid‑pro quo arrangement.
ICAC is now examining whether Beckington received unlawful political donations from several of its clients, including Catholic Schools NSW and hotelier Michael O’Hara, and whether those funds were channelled to support the activities of the Reformers faction.
The Reformers are a right‑wing, religious sub‑faction that seeks to recruit members into the Liberal Party to bolster the hard‑right’s influence, particularly in the Hills region where a factional battle between right and centre‑right elements has intensified. Key figures identified as Reformers include Christian Ellis, Robert Assaf, Jean‑Claude Perrottet and Dylan Whitelaw.
If the commission finds evidence of illegal donations or misuse of funds, the inquiry could lead to charges against individuals and firms involved, and may reshape the political dynamics within both the Liberal Party’s hard‑right and the broader New South Wales political landscape.