The son of Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid accused people of 'playing games' on a multimillion-dollar coal deal in a secretly taped phone call to a mate of former NSW energy minister Ian Macdonald, a corruption inquiry has heard.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Friday heard an intercepted phone call between Moses Obeid and Greg Jones, a friend of then mines and energy minister Ian Macdonald, who is at the centre of a corruption inquiry into the granting of coal licences in the NSW Upper Hunter.
The May 2011 call was made after investors in Cascade Coal had struck a deal promising the Obeids $60 million to get out of their mining venture in the Bylong Valley, but the Obeids received only $30 million.
In the call, Moses Obeid says to Mr Jones, 'From where we're sitting it looks like someone's fg playing games'.
Mr Jones, who had a secret shareholding in Cascade, says, 'You're missing the whole fking point. I don't think you have any idea what we've been through.'
The ICAC has heard that a $30 million payment was made to the Obeids from the bank account of Cascade investor Richard Poole's wife, Amanda.
The Obeids are still pressing Cascade investors for the remaining $30 million, the inquiry has heard.
In another taped phone call from May last year, Mr Jones says he has just had a 'bloody big blue' with the Obeids, before going on to describe them as 'paranoid idiots' and 'off with the fn pixies'.
The ICAC also heard a taped phone call from April 2011 between Mr Poole and Mr Jones, soon after a $500 million deal for White Energy to purchase Cascade fell over and a new buyer was being sought for Cascade.
In that call, Mr Jones calls himself a 'free moving spirit', before telling Mr Poole to 'do what you think' and then 'we'll have a look at it'.
Poole replies, 'I've made some wild assumptions, but we want money fast and we don't give a fk how we get there.'
