The NSW Supreme Court has ruled that former Wagga council general manager Alan Eldridge will not be able to use certain business documents for the "establishment of facts" in his unfair dismissal lawsuit.
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The defendant in the proceedings, Wagga City Council, claimed in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday that minutes presented by Mr Eldridge as relating to business meetings in 2015 for his son's real estate venture had been modified in 2017 and 2021.
Supreme Court Justice Andrew Bell ruled that the backup minutes would be an exhibit but they "cannot be used for the establishment of facts" due to an objection from senior counsel for Wagga council, Robert Goot.
Mr Goot alleged the digital PDF documents from a backup computer system at the Eldridge Group were modified on February 22, 2017, which was the same day Mr Eldridge was stood down as general manager.
During Tuesday's hearing, Mr Eldridge said he had looked at the backups and found "very suspicious" differences compared to the same minutes tendered by the council's defence.
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Mr Eldridge claimed his minutes showed he did not attend meetings where his son Joshua discussed an application to council for rezoning investment land at Inglewood Road in Gumly.
The council sacked Mr Eldridge in part over claims he had an undisclosed interest in his son's venture.
Mr Goot said on Wednesday that it seemed references to Mr Eldridge had been "surgically removed" from his backup minutes.
Mr Goot told the court on Thursday that backup minutes were not an "accurate contemporaneous record" of meetings that occurred before Mr Eldridge took up the general manager role.
Mr Eldridge denied he altered the minutes and said he did not know who might have done so, if they were modified at all.
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