Court's Frank Vellar verdict expected in fortnight

By Emma Spillett
Updated November 6 2012 - 2:25am, first published August 3 2011 - 11:17am
Frank Vellar will wait two weeks for a judgment in his hearing.
Frank Vellar will wait two weeks for a judgment in his hearing.

Wollongong developer Frank Vellar will have to wait two weeks to learn the outcome of a hearing into claims he lied to the Independent Commission against Corruption.Magistrate Clare Farnan announced yesterday she wouldn't deliver a verdict until August 17 to give her time to consider allegations that Vellar lied to the commission (ICAC) during its 2007-08 probe into corruption affecting Wollongong City Council.Yesterday, Vellar's lawyer told Downing Centre Local Court that Vellar had been compelled to provide a statement to the corruption watchdog despite fears the document would incriminate him.Defence barrister Peter Bodor, QC, said Vellar (pictured) had written a statement about relationships with former Wollongong City Council town planner Beth Morgan and one-time councillor Val Zanotto in response to an initial "invitation" from officials to reveal what he wanted to them.When Vellar was ordered to produce the document, he objected but was forced to hand over the statement to officials, the court heard.Mr Bodor denied that Vellar had wilfully omitted information about his relationships with Ms Morgan and Mr Zanotto, stating Vellar had merely written a document in response to ICAC's offer to provide them with information."He wrote down some random thoughts ... it's not a question of willfulness but more about being asked to tell [what he wanted]," Mr Bodor said."He doesn't put the statement forward as a document of truth or a [complete account]."Mr Bodor countered accusations that Vellar fabricated an agreement with convicted conman Ray Younan to mislead ICAC and said the document was intended as a "last resort" to legitimise a payment between the pair.Prosecutor Amanda Brady rejected Mr Bodor's proposition, saying Vellar had created the sham document to deliberately mislead the commission.She said Vellar's claims that he had created the agreement under duress were bogus in light of evidence that he had travelled overseas with Younan and regularly sought his assistance.Ms Brady said Vellar had also lied about the timing of his affair with Ms Morgan to hide the nature of their relationship while the submission for his multimillion-dollar Quattro development was on her desk.The court previously heard Vellar had failed to disclose cash payments he had made to Ms Morgan and a $150,000 loan he received from Mr Zanotto.Vellar, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, was not called to give evidence at the hearing.

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