Mayor Mannoun moving on
Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun is retiring to spend time with his family, shortly after an unrelated ICAC raid.
Just weeks after the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) raided his Sydney offices, the embattled Mayor says he is taking a “complete break from politics” to spend time with his family and plan his transition to the commercial world.
Mannoun continues to insist he invited ICAC officers to examine his files (and apparently seize computers and storage devices) after claims raised against him by Shooters and Fishers MP Robert Borsak.
Mr Borsak made a series of allegations against the Liverpool Mayor and his family under the protection of parliamentary privilege last year.
Mr Borsak alleged that Cr Mannoun’s father had received apartments from developers.
He also noted with suspicion that Cr Mannoun was elected in 2008, two years before Liverpool Council's administration building burned down.
But the claims went back even further, with Mr Borsak alleging that Mannoun’s employment at the Mt Pritchard Community Club was cut short after “a large number of gym memberships were allegedly taken by Ned” and resold “with the club receiving no payment”.
The Mayor labelled it an outrageous attack.
Mr Borsak has continually refused to repeat the claims outside of parliamentary privilege.
Mr Borsak was not Cr Mannoun’s only headache though, with reports that NSW Government investigated a council meeting in February at which several councillors have claimed they were threatened and intimidated by supporters of Cr Mannoun.
After the meeting, the council banned Cr Mannoun from speaking on its behalf, removed him as its spokesman, cut his opening message from the monthly newsletter, replaced his column in the local newspaper, and even removed his photo from council stationary.
Cr Mannoun’s sudden career change comes shortly after his political ally, former chief executive Carl Wulff, resigned over repeated claims that he mishandled asbestos contamination.
ABC report revealed late last year that the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority was looking into several sites possibly affected by contaminated landfill from the council’s soil storage facility.