In a blue pin-striped suit, with a designer briefcase at his feet, Salim Mehajer feverishly wrote in a notepad, tore the pages out, and gave them to his lawyer.
The controversial former deputy mayor of Auburn was red-faced as he sat in Downing Centre Local Court on Monday and listened to arguments about whether he should pay $25,500 to cleaner Anping Yan.
Mr Yan sued Mr Mehajer, claiming he was not paid for cleaning an apartment block on John Street, Lidcombe, between September 2011 and July 2014.
Mr Mehajer argues he is not liable for the debt because, in September 2011, his company SM Projects subcontracted out the cleaning work to Downtown Project Developments, run by his sister Fatima Elkheir.
Under tense cross-examination from Mr Yan's barrister James Lee, Mr Mehajer was asked to read a sworn affidavit which listed him as the sole director of Downtown Project Developments.
"It was a typographical error," Mr Mehajer said.
Mr Lee asked: "You overlooked that part of a three-line affidavit?"
"Correct," Mr Mehajer said.
Mr Mehajer's lawyer Allan O'Connor said Mr Yan was paid in full for his work until September 2013, and that a new cleaner was employed.
Mr Yan went to the offices of Downtown Project Developments in 2014 and was given a cheque for $25,500.
"It's the evidence that the cheque was cancelled ... because he had dispensed with the services of Mr Yan back in 2013," Mr O'Connor told the court.
But Mr Lee said no records of Mr Yan's termination had been produced, nor payments slips, nor any details about the new cleaner.
"We know Mr Yan had a contract, we know that was negotiated between him and Mr Mehajer," Mr Lee said.
He said there was also no record of payment between the two companies for the cleaning contract.
"They have not been produced because they do not exist."
Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson will make a decision by April.
Outside court, reporters asked Mr Yan what he thought of Mr Mehajer.
"I don't understand him," Mr Yan said.
SM Project Developments went into liquidation in February 2013.
Mr Mehajer, who has been disqualified from managing corporations until November 2018, is also facing a criminal trial over alleged electoral fraud offences.