A businessman who picked up a $1800 dinner bill for disgraced former NSW government minister Ian Macdonald has told a corruption inquiry the meal was not "lavish".

Craig Ransley, who made millions from a mining licence granted by the then mining minister, has given details of the dinner at Sydney’s upmarket Catalina restaurant in December 2008.

Craig Ransley: "False statements"claims. Credit:Kate Geraghty

The licence was signed at the dinner.

Receipts shown at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) reveal the lunch was for eight people and included: