By Megan Gorrey
The Sydney mayor at the centre of a corruption probe says he will defend himself against allegations that he used his position to help developers in exchange for benefits including international flights and money.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption’s public hearing into the conduct of long-time Canada Bay mayor Angelo Tsirekas, and the council’s former general manager Gary Sawyer, is set to start on Tuesday.
The conduct of long-time Canada Bay mayor Angelo Tsirekas will come under the spotlight at a corruption inquiry this week.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Earlier this month, the ICAC said the inquiry, dubbed Operation Tolosa, would examine allegations Tsirekas failed to disclose a conflict of interest and favoured developers in several council planning matters dating back to 2012. The hearing is expected to last four weeks.
A City of Canada Bay spokesman said the organisation had granted Tsirekas’ request to take a leave of absence for personal reasons until May 27.
Tsirekas told the Herald on Monday he had not made any further decisions about his role “at this stage”.
“I’m proceeding, I’m going forward and defending myself, and we’ll leave it at that,” he said.
Tsirekas, a former Labor candidate for state and federal seats, was first elected mayor of Canada Bay in 2002.
The allegations he is facing concern planning decisions related to properties in the Canada Bay council area in Sydney’s inner west, including two addresses on Victoria Road in Drummoyne and two properties in Rhodes.
Development giant Billbergia and Drummoyne property developer Prolet were among the companies identified in the commission’s public statement about the investigation.
The commission said it would investigate allegations Tsirekas had “deliberately failed to declare or properly manage any conflict of interest arising from his relationships” with representatives of Billbergia and Prolet relating to planning matters since 2012.
The inquiry will probe several planning matters, some related to the fast-growing suburb of Rhodes. Credit: Louie Douvis
Tsirekas is also alleged to have received financial benefits, international flights and accommodation from another company in return for favourable council considerations relating to planning decisions since 2015, while also failing to disclose conflicts of interest concerning planning matters.
In an update on April 20, the commission said the inquiry would also examine allegations Canada Bay council’s former general manager Gary Sawyer had “partially and dishonestly exercised his official functions and failed to disclose the nature of his relationship” with an individual relating to the sale of a council property on Victoria Road in Drummoyne, and a subsequent development application, between May 2015 and January 2018.
Sawyer and Billbergia were contacted for comment on Monday. A spokesman for Prolet declined to comment on the inquiry.
The hearing, in front of chief commissioner Peter Hall, will be livestreamed on the ICAC website.
Tsirekas was first elected to the former Drummoyne Council in 1995 and became deputy mayor of Canada Bay following the merger of Concord and Drummoyne councils in 2000.
He has served as Canada Bay mayor multiple times since 2002 and was elected to the role for a fifth term in council elections last December, when he ran as an independent. He received more than 37 per cent of the votes.
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