Morris Iemma was battling an escalating corruption scandal last night that threatened to draw in two of his most senior ministers and to bring down one of the state's biggest Labor-controlled councils. 

Joe Scimone - a close ally of the Minister for Ports and Waterways, Joe Tripodi, and a friend for 30 years of the former Wollongong lord mayor and current Police Minister, David Campbell - stood down from his job managing property within NSW Maritime yesterday pending the outcome of an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry. 

There are allegations before the commission that Mr Scimone, a former Wollongong Council officer, paid $30,000 last year to conmen posing as commission officers who were offering to destroy evidence against him. 

Mr Tripodi's office confirmed last night that Mr Scimone, a former federal Labor preselection candidate and Labor branch president, had been stood down on full pay. 

Labor Ministers Drawn Into Deepening Scandal