ICAC raid: Investigators at Mr Torbay's home. Credit:Lucas Forbes On the evening of Tuesday, March 19 Mr Torbay was ousted as the National Party's candidate to contest the federal seat of New England at the next election and allegations involving him were referred to the ICAC. The following day he resigned his prestigious position as chancellor of the University of New England as well as from the NSW Parliament just a week shy of 14 years as the independent member for the Northern Tablelands. Several years back some farmers working in a cattleyard did a double-take when they spotted two men meeting on a lonely stretch of road 100 kilometres from Armidale. The driver of the metallic green Range Rover was powerful Labor figure Eddie Obeid. The person he was meeting was Mr Torbay. Historian Bradley Bowden has previously written that Mr Obeid was instrumental in Mr Torbay's successful tilt for Parliament in 1999 and "oversaw" his campaign. Since then, Mr Torbay has been close to Mr Obeid and the equally controversial former Labor MP Joe Tripodi.

But Mr Torbay's association with Mr Obeid's cousin by marriage, Armidale property tycoon Phillip Hanna, has also raised eyebrows. Mr Hanna, a polarising figure in the Armidale community, was not only a substantial donor to Mr Torbay's campaign, he has also been described in State Parliament as his ''campaign director''. As a 15-year-old, Mr Torbay quit school and moved with his family from Sydney to Armidale when his Lebanese-born father Peter landed a job at Hanna's, the department store of Mr Hanna's family which was the local equivalent of David Jones. Mr Torbay got a job as a kitchen hand at the same university where he was later to be chancellor. It was years later, in the pre-dawn darkness of winter 2007, when Mr Hanna arrived at his business partner's farm with a gun rolled up in some building plans. Doug Jackson told the Herald that although he was surprised to see Mr Hanna, he let him into the house. But, as he leaned forward to turn the light on in the kitchen, Mr Hanna fired a shot, which missed Mr Jackson's head by a whisker.

''I grabbed the barrel of the gun and we wrestled for three or four minutes. He kept jamming it in my face and was trying to fire another shot,'' said Mr Jackson. Mr Hanna did fire another shot, which missed Mr Jackson and lodged in the ceiling. Mr Jackson said he and Mr Hanna were in dispute over money. ''He decided that he would shoot me, make out that I had committed suicide, and that I took the money,'' said Mr Jackson. Following Mr Hanna's arrest, the local police chief David Cushway picked up Mr Torbay, who was able to have a private meeting in the cells with Mr Hanna. When the matter came to court two years later the charges were downgraded and Mr Hanna pleaded guilty to loading a firearm with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He did not spend a day in jail. Instead he was given a suspended sentence. Mr Torbay's present business partners include well-known local developers Jamie Hook and Nick Rice, as well the former police chief Mr Cushway, who was recently appointed to the $200,000-plus position as chief financial officer at the University of New England.

Although Mr Torbay was listed as one of his referees, university sources say Mr Torbay was not involved in Mr Cushway's appointment. Mr Cushway, who did not disclose his business relationship with Mr Torbay in his application, declined to comment. Mr Torbay's wife Rosemary also has a part-time position lecturing at the university. Mr Cushway and Mr Torbay have interests in a string of development companies as well as a hi-tech company, ISU Solutions, which is involved in NBN House in Armidale, opened by the senator Stephen Conroy last year. One of their companies, Palanko, owns a commercial building in Kurri Kurri which is leased until 2016 to Centrelink for $207,000 a year. Another of their companies, Dalbridge Developments, owns a building in Dalby, Queensland, which is also rented to Centrelink for $305,000 a year.

And then there is another commercial building in Armidale, co-owned by Mr Torbay and Rosemary with Mr Hook, a local surveyor and developer. Mr Torbay's name is on the $14,000 a month lease with the New England Credit Union, which is in force until 2019 with a five-year option on top of that. Mr Torbay and his wife also have interests in shops within the Harvey Norman complex in Armidale. This week they put up for sale for $850,000 a development property adjacent to the Harvey Norman complex, which they co-own with Mr Rice. When Fairfax Media rang the agent John Sewell to ask about Mr Torbay's property on Queen Elizabeth Drive, he said ''I am out of service'' and hung up.

While Mr Torbay's pecuniary interest declarations list his million-dollar Coogee apartment, his family home and another flat he owns in Randwick, no other property is mentioned. Do you know more? kmcclymont@fairfaxmedia.com.au