You have reached your maximum number of saved items.
Not since disgraced entrepreneur Alan Bond suffered his famous memory loss in the witness box have we seen anything like the amnesia suffered by Jeremy Greenwood.
Greenwood, 37, is a crucial witness at the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s inquiry into dodgy political donations being washed through his lobbying company.
In an avalanche of “I don’t recalls” and “I don’t knows”, the potential catastrophe of Greenwood’s profound memory lapse finally engulfed The Great Deflector at the end of his third day in the witness box.
Greenwood was reminded that last year, on June 23 and 24, he was grilled at a private hearing where he was warned that it was a criminal offence to discuss his evidence or even disclose that he had given evidence.
Counsel assisting, Dr Peggy Dwyer, SC, put to him that it would be “a pretty bad look … if you run out from your private inquiry” and then meet one of the key people to the inquiry despite being warned not to.
“I can’t remember. I said those were some of the worst days, so I can’t recall,” he replied.
Dwyer again pressed Greenwood about whether he had met a key person after giving evidence at the secret hearing.
“My evidence is that I don’t recall what I did that day, or who I spoke to, or what I spoke about,” he replied truculently.
Pushed again whether he recalled breaching the direction given by the commissioner, Greenwood replied curtly, “I’ve said about 15 times, I don’t know.”
“Play the tape,” came the call from the cheap seats after Dwyer called for a five-minute break.
Returning to the witness box, Greenwood was informed that on the afternoon of June 24 he met Jean-Claude Perrottet at the Royal Oak at Double Bay. The two men put their phones on another table a couple of metres away.
Greenwood and his then-business partner Christian Ellis are accused of issuing “sham” invoices to Dallas McInerney, then-chief executive of Catholic Schools NSW, for lobbying work when Catholic Schools’ money was being used to fund the branch-stacking activities of a group of young ideologues, including Jean-Claude, brother of then-premier Dominic Perrottet.
Such profound memory failure has not been seen since back in May 1994, when Bond, a bankrupt businessman who would soon be in jail, was being questioned about offshore accounts he may have used to squirrel away $50 million from his bankruptcy trustee.
“I don’t have any recollection. This doesn’t ring any bells,” Bond said repeatedly.
