Bureaucrat denies Obeid sought favour A FORMER senior NSW bureaucrat has denied Eddie Obeid sought better conditions for Sydney harbourside leases in which he had secret interests. But former maritime authority deputy director Steve Dunn told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) he was "very disappointed" his political mentor didn't inform him about the two restaurants and a cafe his family owned at Circular Quay. "Anyone who was in that situation should have declared their interest," Mr Dunn told the inquiry on Monday. Mr Obeid never told me there were (family interests) at Circular Quay. The inquiry heard earlier the Obeids owned the businesses through a company controlled by a family trust. Associate and relative John Aboud acted as a frontman. Mr Dunn told the ICAC that in August 2007, shortly after he took the role at maritime, Mr Obeid contacted him and asked him to meet with Paul Scanlan, a lawyer representing the group of Circular Quay lessees. " (Obeid) told you that these people were being treated badly," counsel assisting the commission Ian Temby asked Mr Dunn. "Yes," Mr Dunn replied. But he denied Mr Obeid was implying they should be "treated better." He said Mr Obeid was doing his job, which was arranging a meeting between officials and stake holders. The ICAC is inquiring whether the one-time Labor powerbroker lobbied several state ministers to have the Circular Quay leases renewed without going to tender after their expiration in August 2005.