Nothing Improper In Hay Meeting: Icac

Illawarra Mercury

Friday October 10, 2008

By JODIE MINUS

FORMER councillor Frank Gigliotti's claims about a meeting between Member for Wollongong Noreen Hay and disgraced developer Frank Vellar have been dismissed by the state's corruption watchdog.

In its third and final report into corruption at Wollongong City Council, the commission found it was "not necessary to determine whether any such meeting occurred" in February 2007.

'Even on Mr Gigliotti's evidence, nothing improper occurred at the meeting nor did Ms Hay or anyone else do or say anything which could possibly constitute corrupt conduct for the purposes of the ICAC Act," it said.

Mr Gigliotti's claims were contained in a July 11 statutory declaration published in the Mercury.

He claimed the meeting occurred in Ms Hay's office in 2007, the day after Mr Vellar's application for a public private partnership (PPP) for his North Beach Bathers' Pavilion development was rejected by the council.

"I was surprised to see Frank Vellar there because Noreen had not mentioned to me that he would be there and I felt very uncomfortable and apprehensive because Frank Vellar had a development proposal that had recently been rejected by me and the council," Mr Gigliotti said.

He said Ms Hay had introduced the bathers' pavilion issue into the conversation between the trio.

"Then Frank Vellar said, 'Frank, we need you to put in a rescission motion calling on council to rescind the previous motion for the bathers' pavilion and the PPP'," his statutory declaration read.

Mr Gigliotti said it then became clear that Ms Hay had asked for the meeting on behalf of Mr Vellar.

"I was very uncomfortable with this request and I felt a lot of pressure because of Noreen's influence in the ALP," Mr Gigliotti wrote.

He claimed that in January this year he had told ICAC officer David Lusty about the meeting, but it was not referred to in the public inquiry "because it implicated a member of the NSW Parliament".

In a statement at the time Ms Hay said: "It is my understanding that this matter has been dealt with by the ICAC which found that I was not a person of interest and I have nothing more to add."

The commission examined Mr Gigliotti about his allegations in August. In its report released on Wednesday, the commission rejected Mr Gigliotti's evidence and statutory declaration as not identifying, "any impropriety on the part of any person".

"The commission therefore determined that it was not necessary to seek any account of the alleged meeting either from Ms Hay or Mr Vellar."

It found the alleged conversation between Mr Gigliotti and Mr Lusty did not occur and will ask the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider prosecuting Mr Gigliotti in relation to "intentionally making a false statement".

Ms Hay was stood down as parliamentary secretary for health by then NSW Premier Morris Iemma after her involvement with Mr Vellar was revealed at the ICAC's public inquiry in February.

The inquiry heard a phone intercept, from October 6, 2006, in which Ms Hay told Mr Vellar she would speak to Wollongong Labor councillors Kiril Jonovski, Zeki Esen and Mr Gigliotti about Mr Vellar's development plans for the pavilion. Ms Hay was reinstated three days later, when the commissioner determined she was not a person of interest in the inquiry.

Ms Hay did not return the Mercury's calls yesterday and Mr Gigliotti declined to comment.

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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