Lesser known than some of the other players being examined by the ICAC, Jeremy Greenwood lists the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, Greyhound Racing NSW and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles among his clients; he once worked for former federal attorney-general Philip Ruddock and the now Nationals leader Matt Canavan. He also went to Redfield College, the Opus Dei-linked school attended by other ICAC targets Charles and Jean-Claude Perrottet.

As the pieces of a major corruption puzzle have been put together over recent weeks, Greenwood has remained something of a mystery man. But the lobbyist is unique in that he appears to be a common thread between the three key schemes being probed under the Operation Rosny umbrella.

The first: the ICAC alleges that Greenwood was intimately involved in a plot to divert Catholic Schools NSW funds to a conservative Liberal Party sub-faction called the Reformers. The payments were made to two firms he was a director of, Beckington and JPG Advisory, via what the ICAC says were sham contracts. The money was then passed to Greenwood’s Reformers friends to compensate for their work trying to stack branches across the state.

The second: Greenwood’s name had been mentioned in relation to a political figure caught up in an alleged blackmail plot at Strathfield Council. One of the councillors accused of blackmail is Sharangan Maheswaran, who Greenwood knew well via his business.

Far more grave is the ICAC’s third allegation that Greenwood and his friends Christian Ellis and Charles Perrottet were to be the recipients of a $2 million bribe from disgraced Sydney developer Jean Nassif to further his business interests. Over coming weeks, the ICAC will hear claims of several meetings involving Greenwood and Nassif, who is now on the run in Lebanon.