Former New South Wales energy minister Ian Macdonald has admitted spending two hours with a prostitute at a top Sydney hotel, but says he only wanted a massage.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating claims that property tycoon Ron Medich arranged for Macdonald to spend time with the prostitute after a dinner in 2009 as a reward for setting up meetings with executives from Country Energy and Energy Australia.
Macdonald told the inquiry his neck and shoulders needed a massage. "I said to [Medich] 'do you think it could be arranged?"' Later he entered a hotel room and found an escort named Tiffanie inside.
Asked why he stayed so long with a woman he didn't know in a room with no massage equipment, he said: "Because I was tired, I'd had a lot to drink ... I fell asleep."
- AAP
