It is alleged that Capital Lines & Signs was awarded about $36 million of work from April 2020 to June this year as a result of corrupt dealings with Helmy.
Former Transport for NSW staffer Ibrahim Helmy, 38, is wanted for failing to appear before the ICAC.
In one instance detailed to the inquiry on Wednesday, the inflated amount for a Hume Highway project carried out by Stewart’s line marking and signage business was more than $1 million higher than an original quote.
Under questioning from ICAC counsel assisting Rob Ranken, SC, Stewart said he was aware that Helmy was inflating invoices for work that Capital Lines was receiving from Transport for NSW, and that the inflated amount was to be split 50:50 between them. “He just insisted, insisted [sic] on 50 per cent,” Stewart said.
Stewart confirmed to the inquiry that he paid Helmy a total of $604,500 in cash between 2020 and 2024, and that the last bundle he handed him was during a meeting in Granville in March 2024.
He recalled how Helmy was “pretty helpful to deal with” in comparison to other Transport for NSW staff when they first met in 2020. “I just thought he was helping,” Stewart recalled. “He did say to me that he could help us get some work.”
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However, on recollection, Stewart said that he believed he was groomed into taking part in the arrangement by Helmy, who had approached him. “I reckon he groomed me into it. I have never had someone do that – inflate my rates,” he said.
Stewart said Helmy did not ask for anything in return for his help at the start but later “got a shock” in early 2021 when he saw that the rates his company had submitted for work had been inflated. “It was probably about two months into the contract when I had seen the rates had changed,” he said.
The last occasion the pair met was in Campbelltown in 2024, during which Stewart said Helmy wanted money. “That was Ibrahim – he was always asking [for] money,” he told the inquiry.
Questioned about why he had not reported Helmy to Transport for NSW given the impropriety, Stewart said he should have but was afraid it was too late to do so because he was “already involved” in the arrangement.
“I thought I was already into it – it was too late,” he said. “It’s done now. I gotta live with it.”
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