Amaya's luxury is at odds with then chief minister Katie Gallagher's explanation in July 2013 of why the ACT Government waived a $7.5 million fee to get the project across the line for the Super 15 Brumbies Rugby Club, who sold the land to APG.

"Without the waiver," Ms Gallagher wrote in a letter to Griffith Narrabundah Community Council, "it is unlikely the development and the Brumbies' move [to the University of Canberra] would have occurred." She said the development would help housing density, supply of adaptable housing, and an improved choice of dwelling types.

A KPMG report on the deal, and the Brumbies subsequent move to the University of Canberra, is subject to a Supreme Court suppression order. Brumbies chief executive Michael Jones, who questioned these matters between 2009 and 2013, is locked in a legal arm wrestle with the club's board, which wants him stood down.

Much disquiet is on the public record about getting the land on the market and ready for development. In 2009, then sport and recreation director Sue Marriage drew then planning minister Andrew Barr's attention to the need for a business case for rezoning land and developing it.

"The Government has accepted, at face value, the Brumbies' rezoning and development proposals without any prudent justification that assertions by the Brumbies were in fact achievable," Ms Marriage wrote.

In December 2010, the ACT Planning and Land Authority replied to the Brumbies' request for a determination on the concessional status of the land – Block 15, Section 42 – setting out previous consolidation of blocks, waiving of rent and rent struck at a concessional rate.

The Brumbies paid $280,000 to deconcessionalise the lease. When the Community Council questioned the planning process, insisting Mr Barr, who had approved the concessional lease, explain inconsistencies with previous decisions, and the urgency of some of his actions, their letter was referred to Planning Minister Simon Corbell.

In April 2013, the Government used its controversial call-in powers to approve a development application for the Brumbies.

"The timely commencement and completion of the proposed development by the Brumbies will facilitate the Brumbies' proposal to relocate their facilities to the University of Canberra sports hub," Mr Corbell said in a press release.

The land, more valuable with planning approvals in place, was sold to APG later in 2013 for $11.375 million.

A long-serving valuer in Canberra says the price was reasonable compared with sales of other sites for units in the city, Campbell and at Kingston Foreshore. [APG's involvement with the Brumbies first came to light through an FOI disclosure in 2010.]

Last month, Mr Jones said on radio he was surprised at what happened next. He said after trading losses for 10 of the past 11 years, the Brumbies immediately invested large sums from the proceeds of the sale of their only asset into pre-paid rent for 30 years and to buy a new facility in which they won't have any equity. Mr Jones added that there was no recourse to actually ever get that money back.

"You have to go, 'Is that a clever decision?'," Mr Jones said. "I look at that – having worked as an investment banker and various things – and go, 'Hmmmm, that is an interesting call'."

The University of Canberra is not commenting on its deal with the Brumbies.

Property consultant David Lamont, who has a long-standing project adviser role with the university, as well as construction and project management, says the deal was arranged by the Brumbies and university officials and their respective lawyers.

"I was not involved in any of those details or anything to do with that formal relationship, " Mr Lamont said.

Mr Lamont, UC Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker, and UC Union's Joe Roff are named in a claim lodged by Mr Jones as part of his court action to prevent the Brumbies from standing him down.