![\"Kate](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/932051c273932bfd74cb524ed4d58791bf4a5b05.png\")
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September 25, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n After watching Jean Nassif give his unhinged evidence to the corruption inquiry<\/a> recently from his Beirut bolthole, the impression left was that the fugitive developer was certifiably crazy.<\/p>\n But receiving a surprise mention during Thursday\u2019s evidence<\/a>, supposedly as Nassif\u2019s \u201cenforcer\u201d, was a genuinely crazy figure, one-time bikie gang enforcer \u201cCrazy Dave\u201d Lima, whose corporate entities have included Krazye and Mother Clucker.<\/p>\n Also known as Sofe Veiru Levi, \u201cCrazy Dave\u201d has a conviction for violence and was second-in-charge of a bikie gang known as Notorious. On one occasion, Crazy Dave\u2019s parole was revoked after police discovered he\u2019d met \u201cThe Executioner\u201d, a martial arts fighter, at the Gypsy Lounge in Kings Cross.<\/p>\n The day\u2019s evidence could best be described as \u201cmooshed\u201d, a word the witness appeared to use for \u201cmuddled into a confused mess\u201d. In the ICAC hotseat for his fourth day was lawyer Sharangan Maheswaran, 36, who has been dubbed Nassif\u2019s right-hand man.<\/p>\n Related Article Extortion attempts, secret recordings and shakedowns all featured in Maheswaran\u2019s evidence. The great confusion was who was doing what to whom.<\/p>\n In 2021, Nassif\u2019s paranoia seemed to be raging unchecked about who within his organisation or among his contractors was leaking damaging photos of defects in his Skyview building at Castle Hill.<\/p>\n He was accusing people of being in cahoots with the building commissioner to destroy him and his development empire, Toplace.<\/p>\n The day\u2019s evidence focused on allegations \u2013 which Maheswaran denied \u2013 that he had willingly encouraged his boss\u2019s wild conspiracy theories, passing them on the media and to Liberal Party operatives including Charles Perrottet.<\/p>\n Nassif\u2019s suspicion fell on two tradies \u2013 Navid Ardestani and Adrian Healey \u2013 who had carried out painting and rendering work for Nassif. The two men were trying to get Nassif to pay what he owed them. They also had recommended a contractor to do remedial work on Nassif\u2019s apartment block Skyview, which had been hit with rectification orders by the building commissioner.<\/p>\n \u201cStay away from me because I\u2019m forwarding this to my criminal attorney and putting you on notice that you\u2019re going to be responsible for any harms or damages that happen to me and my family and my business,\u201d Nassif typed in a text to Ardestani.<\/p>\n Ardestani responded: \u201cI really don\u2019t understand your text, Jean. Get us paid, please, and we can finalise friendly. We don\u2019t make threats, and we never did. And also, we don\u2019t do anything illegal. Very confusing text. Get us paid, please.\u201d<\/p>\n In his evidence at an earlier private hearing, Ardestani said that in an attempt to get money to pay his own workers, he\u2019d agreed to meet Nassif at a cafe next door to Nassif\u2019s then office in Majors Bay Road, Concord.<\/p>\n He explained that he was also attempting to introduce Nassif to a builder who could rectify the Skyview defects that had come to the attention of David Chandler, the building commissioner.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only corrupt person here \u2013 I\u2019m not an angel, let\u2019s get this right \u2013 but the only person, corrupt person here, is Jean Nassif,\u201d Ardestani told the ICAC.<\/p>\n Ardestani said he told Nassif: \u201cIf you don\u2019t, this guy is going to demolish you and finish you off. He\u2019s not a person you can pay off \u2026 or try to play games or arrange to get him shoot [sic] or something, some shit like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Angry words were exchanged and Ardestani said Nassif had threatened him with \u201cCrazy Dave\u201d Lima. It wasn\u2019t quite clear if \u201cCrazy Dave\u201d turned up in person but Ardestani told the commission that Nassif had people in cars with \u201cdark windows\u201d outside the cafe.<\/p>\n Healey, who also provided evidence in a private hearing in 2024, insisted that neither he nor Ardestani had any connection to the building commissioner. Instead, Ardestani knew a builder who could help fix the defects, which might get the commissioner off their backs.<\/p>\n Related Article When he met Nassif at the same cafe, Nassif accused Healey, in a profanity-laced rant, of leaking information about Toplace\u2019s defects.<\/p>\n One thing Healey mentioned in his evidence was that Nassif had \u201cpresented \u2026 that he was an engineer\u201d but in his discussions with contractors Nassif \u201cdidn\u2019t sound like he was an engineer\u201d.<\/p>\n Nassif, who fled the country in December 2022, has claimed to have completed a master of science in the field of construction management from Somerset University in 2006.<\/p>\n Two years earlier, a retired FBI agent who specialises in education fraud said that for $US1995, Somerset University offered to deliver him an MBA within 15 days, complete with a grade point average and professorial letters of recommendation.<\/p>\n There is a warrant out for Nassif\u2019s arrest over for fraud offences involving a $150 million construction loan. Toplace collapsed in 2023 with debts of more than $1.6 billion.<\/p>\n More \u201cmooshed\u201d evidence is expected when Maheswaran returns for his fifth day of evidence.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Sharangan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/61c2ca8d18a625aba016e28b7f959cc1c0dcd567.jpeg\")
Sharangan Maheswaran, left, at the ICAC on Thursday.Ben Symons<\/p>\n![\"Sharangan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/f6b2ab10b7c7bc0c47d4f4b2a9744eb2ac6d99af.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Jean](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a00c78dc0a6d4d7eb5ab596fff7301ac58ca0d2b.jpeg\")
Jean Nassif appeared before the ICAC in a video link from Beirut.ICAC<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/20ff9d58df42e0aad45e99a06d2f928769eb22c8.jpeg\")
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