Described as a "controversial Liberal identity" in some media.
Who enables his behaviour ? Is he a rogue lobbyist or is this just the way business is done in NSW ?
Is he a plant ? If so, by whom and why ?
I thought his name was pronounced "Jirro-larmo" but apparently it's meant to rhyme with "Geronimo". Not sure if that is apt.
@pct001wine wrote:Described as a "controversial Liberal identity" in some media.
Who enables his behaviour ? Is he a rogue lobbyist or is this just the way business is done in NSW ?
Is he a plant ? If so, by whom and why ?
I thought his name was pronounced "Jirro-larmo" but apparently it's meant to rhyme with "Geronimo". Not sure if that is apt.
IT was the ultimate act of mutually-assured destruction by the โold-fashioned shyster fraudsterโ who is now politically dead.
Nick Di Girolamo, a Liberal Party donor and former Australian Water Holdings boss, waited until the final day of the Independent Commission against Corruption inquiry to produce his deadly trump card: A handwritten note from Premier Barry OโFarrell, thanking him for a bottle of โwonderful wineโ from the year of his birth โ 1959.
The day before, Mr OโFarrell had denied he ever received a $3000 bottle of Grange from Mr Di Girolamo in April, 2011, goading Counsel Assisting Geoffrey Watson to โgoogleโ his birth date โ effectively accusing Mr Di Girolamo of giving false testimony earlier that day.
Mr Di Girolamoโs relationship with Mr OโFarrell, and close ties to former Labor kingpins Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi, has been an ongoing theme in the investigation that focuses on dodgy water deals, and the hefty lobbying of ministers to give Mr Di Girolamo a billion-dollar contract.
Last month the ICAC tendered 27 bundles of documents which ยญincluded evidence of contact between Mr OโFarrell and Mr Di Girolamo, who was a former managing partner of the law firm Colin Biggers and Paisley.
Mr Di Girolamo had been lobbying the government to sign off on a billion dollar contract with Sydney Water, at the same time he is accused of rorting water users for flights, luxury hotels, Liberal donations and limousines.
The government signed a more modest $100 million contract capped at 25 years, because Mr OโFarrell said there was threat of litigation if they did not.
A note taken by Mr Di Giro-lamo on May 25, 2011, of a conversation with Mr OโFarrell said the Premier โaccepted that (AWH) had a serious issue. I said we were getting mixed feedback from (former finance minister Greg) Pearceโs office โ but one clear message and that is that it needed the Premierโs input.โโ
On May 27 Mr Pearce was dragged in to speak to Mr Di Girolamo about the contract.
In scathing evidence last week, Mr Pearce said he was surprised at how โcosyโ Mr Di Girolamo was with the Premier and resented going to the meeting which felt โlike a schoolboy being called in to explain to the headmaster why he hadnโt done his homework.โ
On August 25 Mr Di Girolamo complained to the Premier that his company was going โbackwards with Sydney Water,โ over an ongoing dispute with the burgeoning costs of AWH โ that included Mr Di Girolamo giving himself a salary of between $1.1 and $1.3 million.
A text from Mr OโFarrell said: โI am appalled, we are on to it.โ
Mr Watson got up angrily during proceedings yesterday over the suggestion ICAC had sat on information regarding the bottle of grange until after Mr OโFarrell gave his evidence.
โItโs false, it shouldnโt be said, and quite frankly โ and I think I probably speak on behalf of everybody at ICAC โ I resent it if it is being said and I can tell whoever wants to know in the world that ICAC acquired the information at 9.17am this morning,โ he said.
The commission heard yesterday that Mr Di Girolamo was the source of the handwritten thank you note, the bomb that ended the Premierโs career.
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The term "Mafia" springs to mind.
