By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Embattled ex-mayor Sam Aziz has been told he’s making a “mockery of the truth” by denying he knew developer John Woodman paid him in a ‘sham’ Spicer Thoroughbreds venture.
In evidence to IBAC’s Operation Sandon inquiry, Mr Woodman and his lobbyist Lorraine Wreford said the payments were a vehicle to “funnel money” from Mr Woodman to Mr Aziz.
Mr Aziz claimed he’d thought at the time he was being paid by Spicer Thoroughbreds for helping set up an overseas equine investment fund.
“I think (Mr Woodman and Ms Wreford) had an expectation that I would not return to Australia,” Mr Aziz responded on 23 November.
“So they could have pretty much said anything they wanted to incriminate me and relieve themselves.”
Mr Aziz received up to $3500 a month from Spicer Thoroughbreds between June-November 2018 – which was “mirror funded” by Mr Woodman, the inquiry has heard.
Before and after those payments, Mr Aziz was receiving payments from Mr Woodman.
Up to that point, he had been receiving up to $15,000 “interest” instalments from $600,000 that he presented to Mr Woodman in a suitcase.
A month after the Spicer deal ended, Mr Woodman started paying Mr Aziz $25,000 monthly ‘Smart Cities’ consultant fees for a Little River development.
The two arrangements were “totally unrelated in my mind”, Mr Aziz told the hearings.
He said he never met with Mr Woodman in relation to the Spicer payments.
It was Spicer marketing manager Bernard Lee who approached him with the idea of the equine investment fund.
He knew Mr Lee was the domestic partner of Woodman lobbyist Ms Wreford. But he didn’t suspect Mr Woodman to be paying his fees, he said.
In communications captured by IBAC, Mr Aziz chased up his Spicer payments with Ms Wreford. But that was because “I couldn’t get in touch with her boyfriend”, Mr Aziz said.
IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich said Mr Aziz’s “incredulous” explanation was making a “mockery … of the truth”.
“You say you never had a conversation with Mr Woodman about Spicer Thoroughbreds and you were never aware that he was paying your fees under the Spicer Thoroughbreds contract.
“Do you just see how ridiculous that explanation is?”
Mr Aziz replied: “It may be ridiculous from your point of view. I’m just trying to relay what I do remember about those arrangements.”
Mr Aziz also denied IBAC’s counsel assisting, Michael Tovey’s assertion that it was a “stopgap” while Mr Woodman was seeking ways to pay a “bribe” of more than $600,000.
The Spicer fund’s host company Showdown Racing Club Pty Ltd was not incorporated. It was effectively “non-existent”, counsel assisting IBAC, Michael Tovey said.
In two separate documents, Showdown had different purported ABNs. One was the ABN for Spicer Thoroughbreds and the other was Mr Lee’s as a sole trader.
Commissioner Redlich noted Mr Aziz signed an agreement that named Mr Aziz as executive chairman of Showdown’s board of directors.
“If the entity Showdown Racing Club is non-existent then this
document was a sham.”
Mr Aziz said he wasn’t aware of the non-incorporation. He was the executive director of the fund, not Showdown, he said.
“I thought you told me you had done some special study as a company director, is that right?” Mr Tovey told Mr Aziz.
“Why is that funny?” Mr Aziz replied.
“I’m sorry Commissioner, I find the sarcasm in this quite insulting.
“I would really appreciate it if you could direct Mr Tovey to stop laughing at me because I’m not making things up.”
The Spicer fund was set up to buy yearlings from Hong Kong, Japan, Europe and the US, Mr Aziz said.
Mr Aziz had been working on an investment prospectus, undertaken “a lot of research” and met several times with Mr Lee and the firm’s owner Brad Spicer.
But the “short-lived” consultancy didn’t progress beyond Mr Aziz putting the idea out to his contact network. No investors were secured.
“(Spicer Thoroughbreds) got busy with the Spring Racing Carnival, and the information that I was seeking … . to complete areas of lack of knowledge in my research wasn’t forthcoming.
“I don’t think they were investment-ready themselves.”
Mr Aziz said he’d thought Ms Wreford was his friend “until I read in the media the ridiculous evidence that she gave to your last hearing”.
He denied her evidence that he had told her to lie to IBAC about the $600,000 amount in a suitcase that he’d paid Mr Woodman.
“I can’t speak for her, but I’m disappointed in what she has said; extremely disappointed.”
Mr Aziz “conceded” that he’d falsely told IBAC in private evidence last year that he’d paid Mr Woodman only $370,000 – the same falsehood that Ms Wreford claims he urged her to collaborate.
Ms Wreford had told the inquiry that the Spicer consultancy was Mr Aziz’s idea for getting money from Mr Woodman.
“No it wasn’t my idea,” Mr Aziz responded.
Mr Aziz and Mr Woodman are being investigated by the IBAC inquiry into allegedly corrupt land deals involving Casey councillors, state MPs and developers.
