New texts drag O'Farrell into Star scandal
The scandal surrounding Sydney's Star casino has deepened to embroil New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell in potentially the most damaging political controversy his government has faced.
A series of text messages made public on Monday suggest Mr O'Farrell wanted to "smash" Star.
The bombshell was dropped near the end of Monday's hearing, held by the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, which is examining allegations of misconduct at the casino.
The investigation is focused on the circumstances surrounding the sacking of Star's managing director Sid Vaikunta over sexual harassment claims.
The claims were made by two casino staffers, one of whom is the girlfriend of Mr O'Farrell's suspended media chief Peter Grimshaw, who had also worked at Star.
Mr Vaikunta denied the allegations and the casino retaliated by going into open warfare with the State Government.
The casino operators accused Mr Grimshaw of using his position to try and trash Star's reputation, a claim they backed up by leaking phone texts between Mr Grimshaw and his girlfriend to the media.
On Monday, the inquiry heard claims the pair referred to Mr Vaikunta as "Mr Nasty" and talked about how to get rid of him in the messages.
But just minutes before the inquiry wrapped for the day, Star's lawyer Alan Sullivan produced a series of sensational new text messages between Mr Grimshaw and his girlfriend.
The messages implicate Mr O'Farrell in what appears to be a campaign against the Star, one that began when he was opposition leader.
In August 2010, Mr Grimshaw texted his girlfriend: "I just told Barry what a dik Sid is, he said we might have to give Star a wake-up call when I leave Star."
Three months later he sent two other messages.
"Barry just texted me. He is at the Leonard Cohen concert," one said.
"Not even sure why he texted. Just asked me if I was out yet. I think they are going to smash Star."
His girlfriend replied: "I'm so proud of you - let them go to town on Star."
Mr Grimshaw told the inquiry he could not remember sending the text.
"I have no idea what it is relating to," he said.
No comment
Mr O'Farrell is not commenting on the evidence from the inquiry but says his Government has made no decisions affecting the casino.
The leaked messages led the Premier last month to suspend Mr Grimshaw, who had worked under Mr Vaikunta.
Mr Grimshaw has told the inquiry that he had formed an adverse opinion of Mr Vaikunta during that time but denied he had a vendetta against his former boss.
Mr Grimshaw's partner claimed she had been sexually harassed by Mr Vaikunta but never filed a formal complaint.
Mr Vaikunta has denied that he acted inappropriately.
The inquiry is expected to last a fortnight.
Source: ABC News, 3 April 2013
