# Jean Nassif rants at Icac from a Beirut bedroom

> A fugitive developer dialled into a corruption inquiry and refused to stop shouting.
- Title: Jean Nassif rants at Icac from a Beirut bedroom · the Guardian
- Summary: A fugitive developer dialled into a corruption inquiry and refused to stop shouting. Nassif used a corruption inquiry as a stage to attack everyone but…
- Keywords: icac, corruption, nsw politics, property development, jean nassif, news, world, Jean, Nassif, rants, Beirut, bedroom
- Source: the Guardian — https://theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/sep/15/jean-nassif-icac-evidence-fugitive-developer-ntwnfb
- Published: 2026-09-15T07:48:57+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: icac, corruption, nsw politics, property development, jean nassif, news, world
## A witness on the run
Fugitive property developer Jean Nassif, 58, dialled into the NSW corruption watchdog from his bedroom in Beirut. He told the inquiry flatly that he is not corrupt.

> I'm not corrupt.
## What Icac is chasing
The inquiry is examining whether NSW Liberal figures expected $2m in prohibited donations from Nassif in exchange for political outcomes, including damaging a minister's career.
## Two names in the frame
The political outcomes allegedly on the table: harm to former Liberal minister David Elliott's career, and the removal of then building commissioner David Chandler.
## Why he left Australia
Counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer SC asked if he fled to dodge a parliamentary inquiry in December 2022. Nassif said he went to collect an international award, then stayed after threats.

> I'm not gonna go back to Australia to be killed by mafia boys.
## The Hague threat
Nassif said he would assemble a legal team and sue the NSW government at the international court, returning to Australia only once that case clears his name.

> I'll be back in Australia.
## His daughter's guilty plea
Ashlyn Nassif, 32, got a six month community corrections order for false information used to get a $150m Westpac loan. Her lawyers cited pressure from her father. He says she was forced to plead.

> My daughter has been forced to plead guilty so she can finish that case.
## Told to take a breath
Waving handwritten notes at the camera, Nassif swore at Dwyer and threatened to pull out. Assistant commissioner Fabian Gleeson SC told him the hearing was not a forum for his complaints.

> There is no one [who] can make me shut up.
## Key takeaway

Nassif used a corruption inquiry as a stage to attack everyone but himself, and answered almost nothing.