“I do not recall that transaction, but I retrospectively thank Mr Mannoun [in the email] for doing so. I thought I had one donation … of $5000 and I ran the rest of the failed campaign on my own coin – did miserably – and moved on.
“I’ve got records in front of me, exhibits in front of me, that indicate my name, my bank account, and a number, looks like $1000, and a thank you email. So I think the evidence is clear, that $1000 was donated. I don’t recall it whatsoever.”
Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun is yet to give evidence in the inquiry.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Breton said, given he didn’t remember receiving the donation, it was “impossible to recall” whether he had discussed with Mannoun from where the funds might have originated.
The inquiry was shown an email, dated January 9 this year, sent to Breton and Mannoun from lawyers acting for Joseph Cannavo of Icon Property Investments Pty Ltd, which read in part:
“It is noted that at the request of Mayor Mannoun, our client in 2021 donated $2000 to your campaign to be elected to a seat in the South Ward of Liverpool local government area.”
Breton said he didn’t recall ever seeing that correspondence. Breton gave evidence he also didn’t recall hearing about Icon Property Investments, or Cannavo, before the email in January this year, or possibly late last year, as he said the company had been involved in a dispute with the council.
“There’s no evidence at all that I received that email. I think if I had received this email, I would have done something about it,” Breton said.
Breton told the inquiry he was “very” naive and didn’t know the other candidates, who included two family members of councillor Harte, who ran on the independent ticket in the 2021 council poll.
Under questions from McDonald, he said he was unaware of the strategy, used by major political parties, of a “dummy group” of independent candidates who would “immediately channel their preferences off to one of the established parties” in an election.
Breton said he “had no idea of that concept” and “no idea what I was doing” in the campaign.
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“Ego probably got the better of me. I thought it was a good idea. I had a crack. Didn’t do very well, and that’s, as far as I was aware, where it ends.”
The hearing continues in front of Commissioner Ross Glover. Mannoun is yet to give evidence.
Liverpool Council and Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig, who is due to appear at budget estimates on Tuesday, declined to comment while the inquiry into the council was ongoing.
The weeks-long hearing is examining councillors’ conduct, as well as the council’s handling of finances, property purchases, staff employment, and $150 million in state government grants.
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