WOLLONGONG developer Frank Vellar solicited a convicted criminal and conman to threaten Beth Morgan, his long-term lover and Wollongong council town planner, to keep quiet about their affair, a public inquiry into the council heard yesterday.

In sensational evidence presented at the Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing, Mr Vellar was heard in two telephone conversations last October, intercepted by ICAC, asking Ray Younan to organise a call to Ms Morgan to put some pressure on her because she was "tryin' to f---in' make trouble at this end".

He asked the conman to make sure the dealings with Ms Morgan were "pretty heavy duty".

Colleagues spill beans on sex scandal town planner


SHE slept with developers while processing their building applications but it was Beth Morgan who wrote Wollongong City Council's guidelines on ethical dealings with developers.

Ms Morgan lectured the staff on the guidelines even as some of them grew to hate her for snubbing them while "sucking up" to the bosses.

One of her former colleagues has told The Sun-Herald repeated complaints were made about the young blonde planner's relationships with developers - including her sexual liaisons - but they fell on deaf ears.

"She was very ambitious and she knew what side her bread was buttered on," the former colleague said.

"She didn't socialise with us because we were beneath her but she had a very good relationship with the managers and directors. She would start the morning getting coffee for her manager, Joe Scimone, and talking in his office for an hour.

"She got into work very early, around 7.30am - when the managers got in - and she would flirt with them.

"She just wanted to climb the ladder. She was rude, arrogant and ruthless. She made everyone's life hell."

Ms Morgan gained statewide notoriety last week when she became the star attraction at the Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry into Wollongong City Council, with revelations she had sex with three prominent developers - Glen Tabak, Michael Kollaras and Frank Vellar - while reviewing their development applications.

One former colleague said "everyone" knew things were bad but the extent of the bribery and corruption claims were a shock, even to them.

"Everyone knew about the sex stuff but no one knew about the bribes and money," the colleague said.

Yesterday, as Ms Morgan remained in hiding, her former husband, Adam, was recovering from a horrendous week in which he was swept up in Wollongong's bizarre sex and corruption crisis.

Mr Morgan met his then wife when they worked together at the council in 2000. Their only child, Hannah, was born in 2003. They later divorced.

Yesterday, he and a female companion left his Coniston home to take his four-year-old daughter to the shores of Lake Illawarra where family festivities were held to mark the third birthday of his nephew, Max.

Mr Morgan smiled ruefully when he was asked about the sort of week he'd had.

"I'm just trying to distance myself from the whole situation," he said. "I'm spending the day with my daughter."

Ms Morgan's neighbours said they felt sorry for the woman at the centre of one of the biggest sex-developments scandals in NSW history.

"You do have to feel sorry for her because she's a single mum, obviously wanting someone important in her life," a female neighbour said.

"I barely saw Beth but she'd wave, smile, say hello."

Ms Morgan kept such a low profile in her Wollongong townhouse complex that it was days before her neighbours realised she was the woman in the news.

"I remember seeing a few newspapers. It didn't click at first," Dylan Bradbery said.

"She kept to herself. She was a nice person to have in the block because she didn't make any noise and she didn't bother us and we didn't bother her."

Another neighbour said the story was all everyone was talking about in Wollongong.

"I think there's a lot of empathy for her around town," he said. "I think she's incredibly naive, which is a shame."

Ms Morgan was not home yesterday and it is believed she is staying elsewhere.

The major players in the council planning scandal are bracing themselves for another big week at ICAC.

Wollongong City Council's retired general manager Rod Oxley will face the inquiry tomorrow to answer accusations that he rode roughshod over town planners when they knocked back controversial development applications.

Just days after the council's former environment and planning director David Broyd told ICAC that Mr Oxley was close to some developers and was "too open for representations" from them, Mr Oxley will fight to restore his reputation.

He retired in May last year after 19 years, but only after the council agreed to pay his legal fees for any future ICAC matters.

Yesterday he was at home in Mount Pleasant, tucked under the Illawarra escarpment, reviewing transcripts of last week's evidence.

He refused to comment on the allegation or detail his response, but those close to him said he was preparing to fight tooth and nail to clear his name.

Ms Morgan was the only woman to make regular appearances at what was known in Wollongong planning circles as the "Table of Knowledge", which convened outside a kebab shop.

In June last year Mr Oxley was invited to have a seat at the table, with the Illawarra Mercury reporting: "Rod was told this was where the real decisions were made in Wollongong and he appeared completely relaxed as he enjoyed the morning frivolities".

Source: The Sun-Herald

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