It was developer Frank Vellar's phone call to his wife on October 18, 2006, that brought undone three Wollongong councillors.
Unknown to Mr Vellar, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) had tapped his mobile phone as part of its investigation into Wollongong City Council.
Mr Vellar had just finished a meeting with Kiril Jonovski, Zeki Esen and Frank Gigliotti at Wollongong's Flame Tree Cafe about 11.15am that day, when he called his wife and said he had been asked by the trio to pay a $20,000 bribe.
All three former councillors initially denied the meeting took place, in written statements to the commission and at hearings.
However, after several telephone recordings were played to them, including their own conversations with Mr Vellar, Mr Jonovski and Mr Esen both claimed their memories had been "jolted" and admitted attending the meeting - but denied anyone solicited a bribe or discussed donations.
Mr Gigliotti, however, refused to budge.
In the final ICAC report released yesterday the commissioner said: "Mr Gigliotti unconvincingly, and, in the commission's opinion falsely, claimed he had no recollection of having had a meeting with Mr Vellar in October 2006."
The report said the three concocted their evidence to the inquiry as part of an orchestrated attempt to deceive the commission and their conduct reflected a consciousness of guilt in relation to the meeting.
During that fateful telephone conversation, Mr Vellar told his wife: "For the first time in my life I have been, ah, put into the position of ah, of yes or no in terms of a, a bribe ... and I'm not going to talk over the phone too much but 'you give me this and we'll approve that'.
"I said 'excuse me, I am not accustomed to this style of business. I will have to think about it' and got up and walked away.
"And I mean they're talking like, you know, 20 plus ... and it doesn't - it doesn't go to them.
"You know where it goes to? ... It goes to their political, ah, political slush fund for them individually.
"By giving it through the backdoor they don't have to declare it, you see. It doesn't go on the register as a donation."
Mr Vellar had gone to meet the councillors to seek support for his redevelopment of the North Beach Bathers' Pavilion.
The development application had suffered a setback in mid-2006, when the NSW Heritage Office endorsed a redesign which would have cost Mr Vellar more than $1 million more than expected and reduced rental returns.
Mr Vellar had cut a deal, with then Wollongong council CEO Rod Oxley, under which the council would pay the extra money in pavilion-related infrastructure if Mr Vellar proceeded with the re-development in accordance with the Heritage Office's guidelines.
However, the deal needed to pass a vote at council. Hence Mr Vellar's meeting with Mr Jonovski, Mr Esen and Mr Gigliotti.
Mr Vellar said that, at the meeting, all three councillors spoke about political donations and requested a future donation of $20,000 for their support for the proposal.
Yesterday's report endorsed Mr Vellar's version of events and referred the findings against the three councillors to the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider criminal proceedings for corruptly soliciting a benefit, wilfully making a false statement to the commission and knowingly giving false evidence at the commission's public inquiry.
Mr Jonovski, Mr Esen and Mr Gigliotti also were found to have failed to declare their interests in a company they jointly owned, in their pecuniary interest returns lodged with the council between July and September 2007.
The three, and former council manager Joe Scimone, were directors of Quattro Employment Services (QES) which was set up in May 2007 to facilitate the employment of migrant workers.
Earlier this year Mr Gigliotti testified that the company never traded. However the commission found evidence there was an intention for it to trade later in 2007.
Mr Gigliotti and Mr Esen both said they did not include their interests in the company on their pecuniary interest forms because they were advised by the council's administration manager that they would not have to declare the interest until the next year's return.
Mr Jonovski said that, as the first two had received the same advice, he followed suit.
The report said: "The commission rejects the explanations offered by the three councillors and is satisfied that each of them deliberately omitted to disclose his position with QES ..."
The Mercury could not contact Mr Jonovski or Mr Esen yesterday.
Mr Gigliotti refused to comment.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter