Councillor Paul Garrard guilty of misconduct over racehorse syndicate, Rosehill units

A former Lord Mayor has been suspended after a tribunal found him guilty of shelling out $50K in a racehorse syndicate run by a mate who had a development application before a council.

Councillor Paul Garrard has been suspended for two months after a tribunal found him guilty of misconduct following his $50,000 payment in a racecourse syndicate involving a mate who had a development application for apartments before Parramatta Council a decade ago.

On Thursday, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Garrard, who is now a Cumberland councillor, failed to declare a non-pecuniary conflict of interest when the council considered the application for 51 units at Prospect St, Rosehill — a site which Allan Chrara owned — on August 26, 2013.

Garrard conceded he paid Mr Chrara, whom he has known since the 1970s, the huge sum as part of a racecourse syndicate — a figure that was repaid after the sale of the land

Mr Chrara repaid Garrard the $50,000 through cheque on July 2, 2014 — the same day he received a $365,500 deposit for the $6 million sale of the Rosehill property.

Paul Garrard won’t return to his duties at Cumberland Council for two months. Picture: Keri Megelus

The tribunal heard Garrard “initially did not perceive he had a conflict of interest in voting in favour of the development application for the Rosehill property, but later, on reflection, acknowledges that he did have a conflict”.

Garrard said the Rosehill site was a controversial one because of zoning and that he “did not agitate for any outcome concerning the subject site in these processes”, noting that it was referred to a design excellence panel without his involvement.

The tribunal accepted that the application did not rely solely on Garrard’s vote but “councillor Garrard’s participation in achieving the approval of Mr Chrara’s development application was a net positive for the friendly relationship between him and Mr Chrara, and this is a further benefit that flowed to Cr Garrard from the approval of the development application”.

The apartments at 19-21 Prospect St, Rosehill. Picture: Google Maps

The tribunal found that despite Garrard not being guilty of incidents of misconduct, his experience meant he should have had a greater understanding of his responsibilities.

ICAC interviewed Garrard in 2017 before he made a statement with the Office of Local Government in March 2019.

After court, Garrard admitted he made a “silly mistake” after a “technical breach of the code’’.

“I’ve been in local government for 48 years,’’ he said.

“I’ve had no prior (incidents of misconduct) to this and no issue.

“This issue happened 10 years ago. I think philosophically everyone deserves a lecture in their life and I think I’ve probably been given mine. I broke the conduct and for that I’m very remorseful.’’

The council stalwart was the Parramatta Lord Mayor for five terms with the Labor Party and joined Cumberland Council during the 2016 amalgamations when he became an Our Local Community representative.