Pisasale cash drop a pivotal point in his downfall

In June 2017, as Paul Pisasale donned a hospital gown to say goodbye to his job as Ipswich mayor, but the rumour mill was working overdrive.

IN June 2017, as Paul Pisasale donned a hospital gown to say goodbye to his job as Ipswich mayor, the rumour mill was working overdrive.

Pisasale had been stopped at Melbourne airport carrying $50,000!

The notion of the mayor, the money and Melbourne clashed with the politician’s wildly popular image as a goofy uncle councillor who had supercharged Ipswich. It was a pivotal moment for a wider investigation into Ipswich that had started with months of covert-surveillance, and would explode in a spray of charges against well-known figures in political and legal circles.

Paul Pisasale holds a press conference at St Andrews Private Hospital in Ipswich in June 2017. Picture: Tim Marsden

That’s even with Pisasale’s friend, barrister Sam Di Carlo, saying the $50,000 was for an unrelated client’s legal settlement, and Pisasale never being charged about the cash.

Enter Pinzone, the 36-year-old pizzeria owner and property developer, who until now has maintained his silence about the events of the afternoon the money was dropped off to Pisasale, at the same time the politician was having a coffee with Pinzone.

The developer, who himself is facing the looming threat of a corruption charge, has for the first time detailed his outline of what happened that fateful day at the Westin Hotel in Melbourne’s CBD.

Mr Pinzone says he is speaking now because he says he is upset with the Crime and Corruption Commission’s actions, which he likens to a witch-hunt. “It must have become clear to them very early in the process that I was innocent in this and that they had simply made a mistake” about the money, he says.

Mr Pinzone has not been charged over the money or any other offences. Pisasale is battling multiple charges, including fraud, illegal possession of a sex-enhancing drug and corruption in relation to the property development Mr Pinzone proposed for scrubland near Ipswich.

And Mr Pinzone, who maintains he has always acted legally, was named in court as a potential co-defendant in a corruption charge against Di Carlo about that same property development.

As for the $50,000? It is in the hands of the CCC. Only one charge has been directly laid because of the cash: money laundering against Di Carlo. He is fighting all charges.