A staffer for corrupt former NSW minister Ian Macdonald made inquiries about water licences attached to a Hunter Valley farm that was being bought by then-MP Eddie Obeid's family, the anti-graft watchdog has heard.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is investigating whether Obeid used his political clout in 2008 to secure unusually generous water allowances covering a $3.65 million farm his family had purchased in the Bylong Valley.
Obeid has already been declared corrupt as a result of previous ICAC investigations.
The commission on Monday was shown a 2007 email, in which Adam Badenoch, then the chief-of-staff to minister for energy and primary industries Mr Macdonald, asked water licensing director Brian Gardoll to "chase up" licences attached to the land.
Mr Macdonald has not been listed as a witness in this latest inquiry - but former ports minister Joe Tripodi has.
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Mr Tripodi has given evidence as part of a concurrent ICAC investigation about Obeid-owned cafes at Sydney's Circular Quay, but has indicated he may correct that testimony.
Counsel assisting the commission Ian Temby QC on Monday said Mr Tripodi had asked to be recalled to the witness box.
"He wishes to correct certain evidence he gave previously," Mr Temby said.
The commission also heard allegations on Monday that senior NSW bureaucrats signed off on generous water allowances for the Obeids' Cherrydale Farm without inspecting the property to verify irrigation levels or other water needs.
"I suggest to you that you were incompetently and arrogantly making a determination notwithstanding a complete absence of verifying material," Mr Temby said to former water licensing officer Brian McDougall.
"Except for my knowledge of the property," Mr McDougall responded.
He had visited the site once, nearly four years earlier, ICAC heard.
Dennis Milling, another former top bureaucrat, denied suggestions from junior counsel assisting Ben Katekar that "had it not been for the Obeid name" and pressure from Peter Leihn, who has been described as department chief Mark Duffy's "runner", he would not have given the water allocation without a property inspection.
Mr Duffy has already been foreshadowed as a contender for corruption findings as part of this inquiry and is due to take the stand on Wednesday.
