Later, Ms Wreford confirmed to IBAC that she had left Little Billy cafe with Cr Aziz and handed over the cash to him in his car. From June 2017 to early 2018 she would regularly deliver $15,000 a month to Cr Aziz, a fellow former Casey mayor. Later she would deliver him $2000 a month in cash. “I was aware of the cash payments, I was not aware of the amount,” she told the inquiry. When asked by IBAC counsel assisting Michael Tovey, QC, what the payments were for, she said. “It was [for] making decisions or trying to get favourable decisions for planning outcomes at Casey.”

Under questioning, Ms Wreford agreed that the payments to Cr Aziz were “bribes” to gain favourable decisions. Mr Woodman's assistant takes cash out of an ATM. Credit:IBAC “In all honesty, I wasn’t sure who was bribing who.” The allegedly corrupt payments between Mr Woodman and Cr Aziz and others are central to the IBAC inquiry into lucrative land rezoning deals in Melbourne’s south-east suburbs. At the covertly taped Little Billy cafe meeting, Cr Aziz told Ms Wreford he had given Mr Woodman “all the support I can on council”, based on an “understanding” they had. He questioned how the payments from Mr Woodman would appear.

Ms Wreford told Cr Aziz: “You've just got to think about it. You don't want a money trail that’s direct.” Mr Woodman's assistant hands him the money. Credit:IBAC On Wednesday, the Andrews government appointed Laurinda Gardiner, a board member of the Victorian Planning Authority, to “monitor” whether councillors at the City of Casey were behaving appropriately. Ms Gardiner will report her findings on councillor behaviour to Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek. Ms Wreford earlier said she had been told that some of the payments were for a loan repayment and there was a legal document signed between Mr Woodman and Cr Aziz. “It was a highly unusual circumstance … I thought it was part of a legitimate contract.”

The inquiry also heard about a backdated contract between Mr Woodman and Cr Aziz which Mr Tovey said was an attempt to give “legitimacy” to the payments. Ms Wreford said she had become “quite disturbed” over the past 18 months about “how greedy Cr Aziz has become". “I said to him [Mr Woodman] that ... Cr Aziz was particularly greedy. I said ‘Every time I’m near him he has got his hand out for money.’ And Mr Woodman’s comment to me was ‘Well, there's two of them at Casey like that'. I believe he was referring to councillor [Geoff] Ablett.” The inquiry also produced WhatsApp messages between Ms Wreford and Cr Aziz from November 2018 where Cr Aziz expressed “massive disappointment” that a plan for Mr Woodman to buy his house for $750,000 on favourable terms had been delayed. Cr Aziz then threatened to reverse his vote on a planning decision, a move that would have hurt Mr Woodman’s interests. “I am so sick and tired of doing everyone’s dirty work and getting treated like shit,” Cr Aziz wrote to Ms Wreford.

Ms Wreford told the inquiry she “felt pressured, as I was in the middle of these two people”. Former Liberal state MP Lorraine Wreford arrives on Wednesday at IBAC's hearings into land dealings at Casey Council. Credit:Eddie Jim It also emerged, in intercepted conversations between Ms Wreford and Cr Aziz, that there was a separate plot to take over Yarra Ranges council in Melbourne's outer east. Cr Aziz said he was working with a prominent businessman, whose name was suppressed by IBAC, to work on the takeover. Mr Woodman was also involved, Cr Aziz said. “We want to take it over, it over the same way we’ve taken over Casey,” Cr Aziz said.

An IBAC surveillance photo of Casey councillor Sam Aziz (L) and developer John Woodman (R) meet at a Subway restaurant in April 2018. Credit:IBAC Ms Wreford was also questioned on whether she had destroyed documents before the IBAC hearings. She said she “may” have destroyed notes of meetings if she thought they could be “misconstrued”. She later denied destroying any relevant information. “I’ve become paranoid since this has all started.” Ms Wreford was the member for the state seat of Mordialloc from 2010 to 2014 and a former mayor of Casey. She was on council from 2003 until her election to state parliament.