Charles Perrottet has been accused of lying to the ICAC after giving differing accounts of why he texted Jean Nassif asking to pick up assistance for a preselection.

Earlier today Perrottet told the commission he was misleading Nassif, and mentioned preselections as a way to encourage Nassif to pay his bills to Beckington. Perrottet said he thought Nassif believed the money would go towards preselection efforts, but that the money was simply what Beckington was owed for services they provided Nassif’s developments.

Perrottet was then shown evidence he gave during a private hearing in June, when he told the commission the reference to help with preselections was actually to attain a statutory declaration he wanted Nassif to provide him, which would detail supposed support property developers were giving in the Hills Shire in exchange for favourable outcomes on council.

When asked if he misled the ICAC in his June evidence, Perrottet said both versions could be true.

“See, the great truism about telling a lie, Mr Perrottet, is you have to be really good at remembering it, and when you gave evidence in June this year that you were picking up a stat dec, that was a lie,” Peggy Dwyer, SC, said.