‘Stitch up from the start’: Calls to review ex-Liberal MP’s lucrative $537,000 job

The minister for local government has been urged to investigate an allegation of “jobs for the boys” after the appointment of a former Liberal MP, John Ajaka, to a lucrative job as chief executive at Liverpool City Council.

Controversial Liberal mayor Ned Mannoun, who has previously appointed staff with Liberal links, last week announced Ajaka’s appointment as CEO on a five-year contract with an annual salary of $537,000.

John Ajaka and Ned Mannoun headlined a Liberal fundraiser for the Liverpool branch in 2011. Credit:

“This was a stitch-up from the start,” said one of the other candidates for the Liverpool CEO job upon learning that, after the preliminary selection process, the top-ranked candidate was not among the final three candidates, all of whom were aligned with the Liberal Party.

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Liverpool’s Barilaro moment,” said Liverpool Labor MP Paul Lynch, referencing the scandal earlier this year when John Barilaro, the former NSW Nationals leader, was appointed to a lucrative government trade commissioner position over a more highly ranked candidate.

Apart from Ajaka, the other candidates were Steve Issa, the former Liberal lord mayor of Parramatta, and independent political aspirant Jason Breton, who preferenced the Liberals at the last local government election. Breton has been given the consolation prize of acting director city presentation, starting on Monday.

Ajaka, 66, the former president of the upper house, started his new job on Monday. He has raised eyebrows with his decision to remain a director of property developer Deicorp.

This photo was removed from Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun’s Facebook page a day after it was posted. It shows a newly appointed Coronation executive director John Barilaro with then-acting Liverpool Council CEO Peter Diplas (centre) and Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun (right).Credit:

Corporate records show that after leaving parliament in March last year Ajaka, a former suburban solicitor, has also been involved with Cosmos Clinics, which specialises in cosmetic procedures including Brazilian butt lifts and liposuction.

Owned by his relative Dr Joseph Ajaka, the Cosmos group has been the subject of a major investigation by this masthead and 60 Minutes into allegations of malpractice and negligence within the business. Dr Ajaka took unsuccessful legal action in an attempt to prevent the investigation from going to air.

While Ajaka resigned from several of his directorships in recent days, including Cosmos Cosmetic Enterprises, he remains a director of a related Cosmos Clinic company owned by the beleaguered Dr Ajaka.

Ajaka, who declined to detail his relationship with Joseph Ajaka, told the Herald he intended to resign these two directorships “as soon as possible, as a brief transition period is required for a new director to be appointed”. He also noted that he has no shareholding or other interest in the companies, nor do they do or intend to do business in Liverpool.

Concern has also been expressed by several councillors, including Labor’s Nathan Hagarty, about the haste in which the final decision was made.

In January, Mannoun pushed for the termination of chief executive Dr Eddie Jackson, whose contract was torn up after only one year and after receiving an outstanding performance review and a pay rise only months before his sacking.

“We have been without a CEO now for about 10 months and are now being asked to select a CEO with 24 hours’ notice,” Hagarty wrote to councillors and staff on December 5.

John Ajaka has been appointed to the lucrative chief executive role of Liverpool Council.Credit: Geoff Jones

“This is a highly irregular, poor practice and more reminiscent of a dating show than a responsible governing body,” Hagarty said in his email to council.

Hagarty has urged Local Government Minister Wendy Tuckerman to investigate Ajaka’s appointment. In his letter to the minister, Hagarty said there was “a clear conflict of interest with this appointment” given that “Mr Ajaka has been upfront in telling people … myself included, that he recruited Ned Mannoun into the Liberal Party.”

“The recruitment of council staff is a matter for individual councils and the minister has no role in the process,” said a spokesman for Tuckerman in response to the Herald’s questions.

Opposition spokesman for local government Greg Warren said there were serious concerns about the appointment of Ajaka, in particular that he remained a director of a development company.
“Ms Tuckerman is happy to push for investigations and inquiries into Labor councils but silent and resistant when it comes to allegations surrounding Liberal councils,” he said.

Fadi Ibrahim has pleaded guilty to dealing with proceeds of crime.Credit: Daniel Munoz

NSW Labor has not ruled out holding a parliamentary inquiry into Liverpool council, subject to further investigation into the appointment process.

Hagarty said that, contrary to the mayor’s media release, the decision was not unanimous as both he and councillor Charishma Kaliyanda left in protest. The council told the Herald the decision to appoint Ajaka was unanimous among the nine remaining councillors who were present and voting.

It also said that Mannoun had declared a “non-pecuniary confidential disclosure” to the council on December 6 as they were making their final selection. In a written response to questions, the mayor told the Herald he was “recruited [to the Liberal Party] by a member who is a cab driver” and that he did not meet Ajaka until several years after joining the party.

In 2013, Mannoun’s previous appointment of Liberal powerbroker Matt Daniel to the deputy general manager’s position ended badly when Daniel’s contract was terminated after it was revealed he was an undischarged bankrupt.

Daniel later successfully sued the council for wrongful dismissal, claiming he had informed the previous general manager of his bankruptcy, which was later annulled.

The council has had a troubled history with general managers, having had 11 in the past 10 years. General manager Carl Wulff, who negotiated Daniel’s settlement on behalf of the council in 2015, was jailed in 2019 after pleading guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice and two counts of official corruption relating to Wullf’s previous time as Ipswich Council’s general manager.

Cosmetic surgeon Dr Joseph Ajaka in an appearance on Channel Seven Morning Show.

Earlier this year, mayor Mannoun was quick off the mark to take a meeting with Barilaro who, before his now-abandoned trade role, was hired as an executive spruiker for Joe Nahas’ Coronation Properties. The mayor has been a strong supporter of the development company, which has a number of projects in his area.

On March 1, Mannoun posted a photo of himself meeting Barilaro and the acting CEO Peter Diplis. However, the photo quickly disappeared from Mannoun’s Facebook page. The mayor later explained that Diplis was only in an acting role and did not like photos of himself on social media.

Ajaka, a former Rockdale councillor, joined the NSW upper house in 2007. His ministerial portfolios included ageing, disability services, multiculturalism and the Illawarra. He was appointed president of the Legislative Council in 2017 and quit politics at the end of March last year.

Dentist Bill Zafiropoulos, Fouad Deiri (centre) and Sam Kanj.Credit: Facebook/Supplied

Questions have been raised about the probity of Ajaka, as the council’s general manager, continuing to be a director of Deicorp, even if only temporarily.

Last year, the Herald revealed that in 2018 the developer’s owner Fred Deiri agreed to pay “site identification” fees of $7.89 million to Fadi Ibrahim’s dentist Bill Zafiropoulos and $7.92 million to Ibrahim’s nephew-in-law Sam Kanj.

The NSW Supreme Court heard the payment was made despite neither man producing “a single piece of documentation” to substantiate their claims. Justice Julie Ward noted it was “a remarkable coincidence” that Kanj and Zafiropoulos suffered a “similar misfortune” of their computers being stolen. It was submitted the justifications for the payments were “absurd” and “beyond ridiculous”.

Most of the dentist’s millions went to Fadi Ibrahim’s business partner, pawnbroking entrepreneur Ben Scott, while Kanj’s money was transferred into what has since been revealed as a money-laundering entity for Fadi’s brother Michael Ibrahim, who is serving a lengthy jail term for drugs and money laundering.

Deiri was found to have breached his director’s duty in authorising the “spotter’s fees”, and was ordered to repay the $16 million to the relatives of his late business partner Jamil Sayour, a cousin of Fadi Ibrahim’s. Sayour died of cancer before the completion of an Arncliffe development project.

Ajaka’s relative from Cosmos Clinics, Dr Ajaka, is also associated with Ibrahim. He posted a video of himself at an upmarket restaurant at Crown Sydney with his wife, Jamal, and Fadi and Shayda Ibrahim.

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