GONE but far from forgotten, Eddie Obeid retains a mesmerising power to haunt and taunt the Labor Party.
A few words dropped from the witness box at a Sydney corruption inquiry this week rang alarm bells through the ALP, not only in his home state of NSW but all the way to Canberra.
Just as Mr Obeid wielded a level of power in NSW wildly disproportionate to his status as a humble backbencher, so he can still cast a shadow over federal Labor even though he quit politics two years ago.
Mr Obeid helped make and unmake premiers, thanks to his control of a Labor sub-faction called the Terrigals, who in turn controlled the party's dominant right wing faction.
Along the way he got to know a lot of heavy hitters throughout the ALP national hierarchy, and knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
Mr Obeid spent two fractious days this week failing to add much to the sum of the world's knowledge about the Obeid family's business dealings.
Then, in about 20 seconds near the end of his testimony at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), he dropped a political hand grenade.
The former factional king-maker mentioned half a dozen political friends he said had stayed "rent free" at his family's $7500-a-week Perisher Valley ski lodge, The Stables.
He said his guests included former NSW premier Morris Iemma, current state Labor leader John Robertson and former resources minister Ian Macdonald, who is also a subject of the ICAC inquiry, as well as two current ministers in Julia Gillard's federal government, Bill Shorten and Tony Burke.
Asked about the motives for his hospitality, Mr Obeid replied: "We're generous people and we like to share our generosity with our friends."
Not everything Mr Obeid said was correct.
He had barely left the witness box before Mr Shorten's office was firing out a denial, pointing out Mr Shorten had never been to Perisher and could not ski. Mr Iemma also denied going.
But with a jittery Canberra on election footing, the race was on to distance the ski set as much as possible from the electorally toxic issue of factional overlords.
Mr Burke described Mr Obeid as a colleague from his days in the NSW parliament, but said it was a "big stretch" to call him a friend.
Then Stephen Conroy, Labor's senate leader, volunteered he had stayed at the Perisher apartment in 2005 or 2006, as a guest of Mr Burke, but had never met Mr Obeid.
"I've never had so much as a cup of coffee with him," he said.
Both ministers have now included their ski lodge stays in parliament's pecuniary interest register, even though personal gifts don't need to be declared.
Though they created such concern in the political world, the amounts of money involved in Obeid's largesse were microscopic compared with the tens of millions of dollars the Obeids have made in the NSW Bylong Valley, which is the focus of the ICAC hearing.
Moses Obeid, one of Eddie's five sons, agreed the family stood to gain at least $75 million from decisions taken by former minister Macdonald.
The inquiry heard the gains could leap to $175 million if a mining permit is granted at the Mt Penny coal tenement, which counsel assisting, Geoffrey Watson SC, said covered three Obeid properties "like a blanket".
But the massive windfall could also disappear after NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell wrote to ICAC asking if the state government should amend legislation to allow it to suspend licences granted to Cascade Coal.
Mr O'Farrell has also asked Commissioner David Ipp to advise him whether the government should commence legal proceedings against any individuals or companies, raising the possibility of a legal battle for $30 million the Obeids have already received through their mining deal with Cascade.
The Obeids retain a 9.3 per cent share of Cascade after the company defaulted on paying them a second tranche of $30 million.
The ICAC is investigating claims that Mr Macdonald rigged a 2008 tender process for coal exploration licences in the Bylong Valley, 150km west of Newcastle, and whether Eddie Obeid and his family gained substantial financial benefit from it.
Evidence at ICAC from the man known as He Who Must Be Obeid showed the workings of a political kingpin who was a regular visitor to Morris Iemma's house and would take calls from the premier at one or two o'clock in the morning.
But his failure to answer questions directly drew the fury of an exasperated commissioner, who threatened him with contempt charges, and his frequent interruptions provoked Mr Ipp to bark: "Can you try and control yourself? You are not in parliament now."
Mr Obeid often claimed little or no knowledge of the workings of the family business, which he said had been run by his sons for 25 years.
His MP's salary was listed as his only source of income for his final 10 years in politics, according to the parliamentary assets register.
When Mr Watson asked him how he had managed to "squirrel away" so much money, he snapped: "Don't squirrel me. I've spent more money than you have made in a lifetime."
When Commissioner Ipp asked him where that money had come from, he said he had been very successful in business and had "more money than you could imagine" before he went into parliament in 1990.
Mr Obeid, a former accountant, repeatedly declared he did not know and could not explain the workings of the family trust's loan accounts - including why payments made to his family's business partners, its staff and even to himself were channelled through his wife's loan account.
But he denied that it looked "shonky".
Mr Watson declared bluntly he was accusing Mr Obeid of engaging in a "criminal conspiracy" with Mr Macdonald and members of the Obeid family which had the effect of defrauding the people of NSW.
Labor's woes did not end when Eddie Obeid left the witness box.
Commissioner Ipp plans to release his findings on the conduct of Mr Obeid and Mr Macdonald at the end of July - barely six weeks before the September 14 federal election.
Labor may not have seen the last of Eddie Obeid's political ghost.
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