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The Sydney Morning Herald
· collected 2026-09-18 · by Alexandra Smith, Jessica McSweeney
Sharangan Maheswaran, a former Strathfield Labor councillor and lawyer now at XD Law, appeared before the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Friday. He detailed his involvement with Jean Nassif, a fugitive developer whose company Toplace collapsed in 2023, after joining Ashlyn Nassif’s law firm in 2019 to advise Jean on improving his business structure and processes. The commission also explored Maheswaran's connections to Liberal Party operative Jeremy Greenwood and their shared interest in damaging former police minister David Elliott's political career.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-18,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Sharangan Maheswaran, a former Strathfield Labor councillor and current lawyer at XD Law, appeared before the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Friday. Maheswaran had previously worked at EA Legal, a law firm run by Jean Nassif’s daughters Evelyn Helou and Ashlyn Nassif. In 2019, Maheswaran joined EA Legal to help Jean Nassif, who wanted assistance in improving his company structure and processes for Toplace, a construction firm that later collapsed in 2023. At the ICAC hearing, it was revealed that Maheswaran provided general advice on planning matters and company operations to Nassif. Ashlyn Nassif has since been struck off after pleading guilty to serious fraud charges related to Toplace. The commission is investigating whether Maheswaran, along with other figures like Charles Perrottet and Christian Ellis, accepted illegal payments from banned political donor Jean Nassif in exchange for damaging the career of a political figure named Elliott.
Written for “Jean Nassif Company Processes” on 2026-09-18,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 17704 · logged 2026-09-18
Former Strathfield Labor councillor and Toplace executive Sharangan Maheswaran worked at Ashlyn Nassif’s law firm, where he was introduced to her disgraced developer father who wanted help to improve his “company structure and processes”.
asserted
who → work → structure
Maheswaran, now a lawyer at XD Law, appeared before the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Friday, where he detailed how he came to know and work for Jean Nassif, the fugitive developer who ran the construction company Toplace before it collapsed in 2023.
asserted
it → appear → 2023
Maheswaran joined the firm EA Legal, named after Nassif’s lawyer daughters Evelyn Helou and Ashlyn Nassif, in 2019.
asserted
Maheswaran → join → 2019
Ashlyn has since been struck off after she pleaded guilty to serious fraud charges involving Toplace.
asserted
she → strike → Toplace
Counsel assisting Dr Peggy Dwyer, SC, said an unsigned statutory declaration prepared by Maheswaran detailed his role at Toplace, which included advising Nassif on improving his company structure and processes, providing views on planning matters and providing the developer with “general advice”.
asserted
which → assist → advice
Maheswaran told the commission he came to know Jean Nassif through working for Ashlyn, who was only in her 20s when she was running her own law firm.
asserted
she → tell → firm
The commission also asked Maheswaran about his links to Liberal Party operative Jeremy Greenwood, who was one of three party members who allegedly shared in a $2 million bribe from Nassif.
uncertain
who → ask → Nassif
Greenwood was introduced to Maheswaran by another Liberal source, Robert Assaf, who was a founding member of the conservative faction of the Liberals known as the Reformers, the commission heard.
asserted
commission → introduce → Reformers
The commission heard that Assaf’s father was a client of Maheswaran’s, who has a speciality in maritime law, and Maheswaran came to be good friends with Robert Assaf.
asserted
Maheswaran → hear → Assaf
The commission was told that texts between Maheswaran and Greenwood when they were both doing work for Jean Nassif suggested they were teaming up to damage the political career of former police minister David Elliott, a known enemy of Nassif’s because he was critical of the developer’s unresolved defects on his buildings.
uncertain
he → tell → buildings
“We have something that will kill Elliott,” Greenwood texted Maheswaran in 2020.
asserted
Greenwood → have → 2020
Maheswaran responded: “Your ears must be ringing.
asserted
ears → respond → ?
I just picked up the phone to let you know that I’ve got something decent.”
asserted
I → pick → something
He also mentioned a story he believed was going to be published in this masthead about Alex Hawke’s centre-right faction.
asserted
he → mention → faction
One of the lines of investigation for the commission is whether Greenwood, his business partner Christian Ellis, and former Liberal powerbroker Charles Perrottet accepted illegal payments from Nassif – who is a banned political donor in NSW – in return for damaging the political career of Elliott.
asserted
who → accept → Elliott
Maheswaran said he understood that he had a shared interest with Greenwood around the Hawke faction but did not accept that the interest in damaging Elliott was related to work for Nassif at that time.
asserted
interest → say → time
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