Claims of disappearing documents engulf Sydney’s Game of Thrones council

Liverpool City Council records may have been destroyed amid an investigation by the Office of Local Government, which is probing the council’s affairs.

“As part of its investigation into Liverpool Council, the Office of Local Government has received allegations about records being removed or destroyed from council’s system,” a spokesperson for the Office of Local Government said.

The council’s acting chief executive Jason Breton was alerted to the OLG’s concerns on July 3.

Chief executive John Ajaka (right) was dismissed after a bitter falling out with Mayor Ned Mannoun (left).Credit: Dion Georgopolous, Geoff Jones

The following day, in an email obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald, Breton reminded all staff that council records were protected under the same legislation as state records.

“Please ensure you treat council records appropriately and that all records held by us remain intact and accessible. This is particularly timely advice as we work through the s430 investigation with the Office of Local Government,” he wrote.

Breton warned staff that “no records whatsoever are to be destroyed or removed ... until further notice”. He told the Herald the OLG had not provided “any information about the nature of the allegations or to whom they may refer”.

Due to staff concern about confidentiality possibly being compromised by the OLG investigators working out of an office directly opposite the mayor’s, the investigators were given a secure room within the council’s new library. For weeks, they conducted interviews, requested records and carried out electronic audits.

Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig requested the probe in late April following Mayor Ned Mannoun’s ousting of the council’s chief executive, John Ajaka, a former president of the NSW Legislative Council.

The mayor used his casting vote to sack Ajaka without waiting for the conclusions of an external investigator.

Ajaka, 68, the council’s 10th permanent or acting CEO in eight years, has launched legal action against the council for unfair dismissal. The former MP’s appointment in 2022 had been controversial due to Mannoun’s propensity for hiring Liberal-aligned senior staff.

Back then, the Herald revealed that the top-ranked candidate from the preliminary selection process was not among the final three candidates, all of whom were associated with the Liberal Party.

However, Ajaka’s relationship with Mannoun, 42, deteriorated.

Matters came to a head at an April budget meeting when Ajaka allegedly said to Mannoun: “Shut the f--- up, you are always interrupting me, stop interrupting me, I’m not sacking anyone and I’m not going anywhere – you’re not firing me and I’m not going anywhere.”

This exchange “caused the mayor and deputy mayor significant distress and anxiety to become concerned for their safety”, a dismissal letter sent to Ajaka on April 29 said.

“Ned v Ajaka has been like Game of Thrones,” a council insider said. “Now we have [an] OLG inquiry which is tipped to trigger council suspension by [an] angry minister.”

In April, Hoenig said he’d been concerned about Liverpool council for some time. “It’s clear there’s a fractured relationship between councillors and staff,” he said.

The OLG report is expected next week and local government elections are scheduled for September 14.

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