Former head of the Land Development Agency David Dawes and his former deputy, Dan Stewart, are among the key players in the troubled land deals at Glebe Park and West Basin who will face questioning at a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday.
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Paul Powderly, the head of Colliers International in Canberra and a big name in real estate in the city, will also appear before the cross-party inquiry, as will Barry Morris, a major property developer whose sale of Glebe Park land to the Land Development Agency in 2015 was the first of the sales to be questioned.
The ACT parliament's public accounts committee is investigating the purchase of the block owned by Mr Morris and business partner Graham Potts, as well as the purchase of the boat hire and bike hire businesses at West Basin.
The inquiry follows an explosive report from ACT Auditor-General Maxine Cooper, who found the transactions lacked transparency, accountability and rigour, and their integrity and probity could not be demonstrated.
Dr Cooper highlighted the close relationship between Colliers, which valued some of the parcels, and the Land Development Agency; the role of consultants Elleven in hiring former senior agency officials to continue working on agency projects; and inconsistent valuations for the parcels of land, one of which she dismissed as lacking evidence and justification and using "almost meaningless" comparisons.
She also found that advice from Colliers to the agency on the value of Mr Morris's land had been "manipulated" after a freedom of information request. As the document was being prepared for public release, Colliers offered to change its title to "valuation advice", an offer that was evidently accepted by the agency.
Mr Powderly is likely to face questions on Wednesday about the title change, and about the valuations his company provided for the Glebe Park block, which the government bought for $4.2 million in late 2015.
Colliers valued the head lease for the paddle boat hire business at $900,000 to $1 million, including a $500,000 compensation premium. That valuation followed two other earlier in the same year, of $50,000 and $100,000. Leaseholder and Canberra businessman Pat Seears was paid $1 million.
The agency paid his estranged brother, Jim Seears, who operated the paddle boat business with his wife, much less, at $575,000. The Seears brothers are not down to appear this Wednesday.
Mr Powderly is also likely to be quizzed about his relationship with the Land Development Agency, which has delivered handsomely for the company over some years. Dr Cooper drew attention to the informal mentoring arrangement that Mr Dawes arranged between his deputy, Mr Stewart, and the principal of Colliers, with the pair organised to meet twice a month for the free mentoring.
Mr Morris is likely to face questions on his negotiations with the Land Development Agency over the sale of his Glebe Park block, at least part of which is earmarked for use by the casino. The land was valued in 2014 at about $1 million, an amount that didn't satisfy its owners and stalled the sale until Colliers suggested $3.6-$3.8 million a year later. The auditor found the Colliers advice was closer to market value but was nevertheless an unsupported opinion rather than valuation advice. Dr Cooper also questioned why a negotiation between the land agency and the Glebe Park owners was arranged by Colliers and held on the Colliers premises.
Also appearing before the committee on Wednesday is former City to the Lake project director Tim Xirakis, who is likely to face questions over the negotiations in 2014 and 2015 before he left the agency. Mr Xirakis is associated with Elleven consulting, which Dr Cooper said was asked by the agency to employ two former executives so they could continue working for the agency, albeit as consultants. One had described the arrangement as "body-shopping"; the other as "a marriage of convenience". Dr Cooper questioned the $2.66 million paid to Elleven without competitive quotes.
It will be Mr Dawes's first appearance before an Assembly committee since he resigned in March, after Chief Minister Andrew Barr disbanded the Land Development Agency. Mr Dawes approved the Glebe Park purchase without first seeking board approval, an action he argued was within his responsibility, but which Dr Cooper found went beyond his powers. He is likely to face questions on the extent to which Mr Barr, as the responsible minister, was aware of the transactions, and probably also on the role of Ben Parsons, a broker who offered to help the bike hire owners when their negotiations soured, and who was later paid by the agency.
The inquiry, open to the public and streamed live through the Legislative Assembly's website, will begin with evidence from Mr Barr.
