Just out by The Australian on line, Mr Poole in a taped...

Just out by The Australian on line, Mr Poole in a taped conversation played at ICAC today, apparently "doesn't give a f***" how he got money, he just wanted it fast:

"Obeids described as 'paranoid idiots'
BY: SAM MCKEITH From: AAP December 14, 2012 2:36PM

THE NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption has been played a secretly taped phone call in which the family of ALP powerbroker Eddie Obeid were described as "paranoid idiots" and "off with the pixies".

The comment was made by Greg Jones, a friend of Mr Obeid's former parliamentary colleague and then mines minister Ian Macdonald, who is at the centre of the corruption inquiry into the granting of coal licences in the NSW Upper Hunter.

The ICAC also heard from investment banker Richard Poole, who told Mr Jones in the wake of a collapsed $500 million coal deal that he wanted money fast and "didn't give a f***" how he got it.

In a taped call Mr Jones had with Mr Poole, an investor in Cascade Coal, in May last year, Mr Jones says he has just had a "bloody big blue" with the Obeids.

He goes on to say he told a member of the Obeid family that "you're off with the f***'n pixies here" and "f*** you guys are paranoid idiots".


The Obeids "got offended" at that comment, Mr Jones says.

On Friday, the ICAC was also played a taped phone call between Mr Poole and Mr Jones from April last year, soon after a $500 million deal between White Energy and Cascade fell over, and when a new buyer was being sought for Cascade.

Cascade had a $60 million deal with the Obeids in connection to a mining venture in the Bylong Valley, the inquiry has previously heard.

In the covertly taped call Mr Jones calls himself a "free moving spirit", before telling Mr Poole to "do what you think" and then "we'll have a look at it".

Mr Poole replies: "I've made some wild assumptions but we want money fast and we don't give a f*** how we get there".