Liverpool Council inquiry: Former general manager Farooq Portelli gives evidence

A Liverpool Council director has expressed his disgust at a councillor’s Dumb and Dumber meme and a video which he said was anti-Islamic during a public inquiry into the embattled council.

Liverpool Council corporate services director Farooq Portelli.

A Liverpool Council director expressed his disgust at a councillor’s Dumb and Dumber meme and a video which he said was anti-Islamic and slurred two councillors.

Corporate services director Farooq Portelli spoke at the Office of Local Government’s inquiry into the council this week, revealing tensions between himself and Mayor Ned Mannoun and describing the organisation as a “circus”.

The inquiry was ordered last year after a report revealed allegations of dysfunction and maladministration within the council.

Mr Portelli was asked about councillor Peter Ristevski’s meme mocking Mr Mannoun and councillor Richard Ammoun, who are both Muslim.

The video’s caption stated Dumb and Dumber but with sound, the adhan – the Islamic call to prayer – was heard.

Farooq Portelli in 2013 when he was general manager.

Mr Ristevski posted it on his Facebook page last September and was elected onto the council that month as a Libertarian.

The mayor showed Mr Portelli a video of the meme which targeted the pair. As a “very religious” Muslim, Mr Portelli was deeply offended.

Liverpool councillor Peter Ristevski.

“It was very specific and directed to them and to my community and to my faith,’’ he said, adding he did “not appreciate what I saw”.

Mr Portelli then lodged a code of conduct complaint, which has not been finalised, following the incident.

Along with the anti-Islamic element to the video, he slammed the meme for being unprofessional.

“If you have an issue with a mayor and councillor and then by all means, deal with it, but when you show that to the world and you mock those individuals by a slogan Dumb and Dumber, what is the community to think of the council?’’ he said.

“It makes me think that the council is a circus, it’s not the professional community organisation that it should be when you do things like that.

“Again, I find it very foolish for someone to do that. You can have thoughts about a person, like them or not like them, but they are your mayor and belittle them in a public way like that, I personally believe it brings council into disrepute.

“It certainly slurs those two councillors and it’s not behaviour of an intelligent, responsible person.’’

When Commissioner Ross Glover asked if it had a wider effect, Mr Portelli agreed.

“Certainly, it affected me and there are many other Muslims working at council.

“It’s an atrocious thing to do.’’

The video was played to the inquiry but not livestreamed to the public.

Asked by counsel assisting the inquiry, Trish McDonald SC, if he would use the Dumb and Dumber term to describe anyone related to council’s business, Mr Portelli denied it.

Mr Ristevski has not yet given evidence at the inquiry.

Tensions with the mayor

Mr Portelli, a former general manager of the council, told the inquiry about the tension between himself and Mr Mannoun more than a decade ago over a disagreement about sacking a bankrupt director.

Mr Portelli detailed how Mr Mannon moved to sack him.

He told the inquiry his relationship with Mr Mannoun became fractured after he decided to terminate planning director Matt Daniel’s employment in 2013 after learning he was bankrupt when an “angry constituent” wrote to him about it.

Four weeks later, he read about Mr Daniel’s bankruptcy in a newspaper report and knew he had to take action.

“I felt a sick feeling in my stomach – something was wrong,’’ Mr Portelli said.

Ned Mannoun. Picture: Facebook

After confirming his bankruptcy was grounds for dismissal, Mr Portelli told the mayor he was going to sack Mr Daniel, who was a former Sutherland councillor.

“The mayor wasn’t happy about that,’’ he told the inquiry.

After Mr Portelli dismissed Mr Daniel, he said he was subjected to an unfavourable performance review in which the mayor marked his performance lowly.

Councillors Peter Ristevski, Peter Harle and Mazhar Hadid were on the panel facilitated by an independent member from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Councillors Mannoun and Ristevski marked Mr Portelli lowly while other panellists rated him the top category.

“It was not justified,’’ Mr Portelli said.

“That was a clear indication to me the mayor wasn’t pleased and wasn’t satisfied.’’

From December 2013, Mr Mannoun got the ball rolling on ousting Mr Portelli during a closed session of a council meeting.

It failed to get quorum, but during a confidential session of the council’s March 26 meeting, it was resolved to terminate the general manager’s employment.

However, Mr Portelli revealed to the inquiry he decided to retire before the March meeting.

“Between December and March I came to the conclusion I had an impeccable career,” he said.

“I (didn’t) want council to be brought into disrepute given there’s now a perception the two senior people in the council had issues, so I approached the mayor and said to him ‘I’m willing to leave, let’s do this amicably’.’’

Mr Portelli approached councillors before the meeting and asked them to support the mayor’s motion to dismiss him because he preferred “to leave on a positive note rather than continue under the current circumstances’’.

The months leading up to Mr Portelli’s resignation were strained with the mayor.

Mr Portelli said the pair would be invited to functions but Mr Mannoun preferred to go without him and “the relationship was not good’’.

“So things like that obviously there was tension between us,’’ he said.

Mr Portelli – a veteran local government employee – first joined Liverpool Council in 2004 after holding previous council roles in Sydney and Victoria.

He returned in 2022 after the acting chief executive Tina Bono approached him to carry out consultancy work into its proposed restructure, which he found “lopsided”.

During his consultancy role, he provided a critique of the council at a “time when the union was up in arms and that the council was going to dismiss a manager.”

“So the environment when I was asked to investigate was one that was hostile,’’ Mr Portelli said.

He then secured his current role as the corporate services director in January 2023.

Mr Portelli worked with chief executive John Ajaka from December 2022 until he was sacked in April after he allegedly told Mr Mannoun to “shut the f--k up” during a budget meeting with councillor Fiona Macnaught and Mr Portelli.

Mr Portelli will resume giving evidence at the inquiry on Monday.

CEO tells mayor to ‘f--k off’ during heated budget meeting

Mr Portelli told the inquiry on Thursday how former chief executive John Ajaka allegedly told Mayor Ned Mannoun to “f--k off” because he refused to sack staff and roll out other savings in the budget.

John Ajaka. Picture: Jane Dempster

Mr Ajaka was initially stood down with pay last April, after he allegedly swore at the mayor during a budget meeting with Deputy Mayor Fiona Macnaught and Mr Portelli.

In August, Mr Ajaka initiated legal action in the NSW Supreme Court against the council, claiming it unlawfully sacked him after the heated meeting on April 16.

During the meeting, Mr Portelli told the inquiry Mr Ajaka to save millions of dollars including saving $1m by cutting two directors’ jobs.

“The CEO was angered by the suggestion,’’ Mr Portelli recalled.

“He insisted that he wasn’t going to be putting staff off.

“It was rather heated but there was certainly nothing physical. At one time Mr Ajaka stood up and then he stood down again but the mayor kept calm, as did the councillor.’’

The inquiry will also examine the council’s financial management including its public assets.

It heard how the council would earn $8.4m from the sale of the SES building at Hoxton Park Rd at Liverpool and how the Civic Place development has left it with a long-term debt.

The inquiry before Commissioner Ross Glover continues.

Originally published as Liverpool Council inquiry: Former general manager Farooq Portelli gives evidence