Welcome to day 23 of the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s public inquiry into the City of Parramatta’s former chief executive Gail Connolly and other staff Roxanne Thornton and Angela Jones-Blayney.
Under Operation Navarra, the ICAC is investigating whether council staff members, central among them Connolly, misused public funds by having staff leave through deeds of release (agreements made between staff and the council upon a departure), subverted the council’s recruitment and other processes, disclosed confidential information to third parties, and spied on staff and a councillor.
Over 22 days, the inquiry has heard from 18 witnesses – all current or former staff at the council – who have been asked about the allegations. Connolly, the subject of most of the allegations, is expected to be the final witness and is on her sixth day of giving evidence.
Yesterday, on her fifth and longest day as a witness, Connolly was questioned about deleted text messages and photographs, weekends away with friends and colleagues, and whether she used the death of a family’s pet rabbit to her advantage.
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