DOCUMENTS relating to the tender for a mining licence at Mount Penny don't appear to have been included in a file produced to the upper house in 2009, NSW parliament has been told.
The Parliamentary Privileges Committee will now examine whether the material was deliberately withheld as part of an attempted cover-up.
"This is an extremely grave matter," said Legislative Council president Don Harwin.
"We now appear to be faced with the possibility that one of the orders of the house was not complied with.
"It is ultimately for the house itself to determine whether its order has been complied with and the consequences that flow."
Operation Jasper is investigating whether Labor's former mining minister Ian Macdonald rigged a 2008 tender process for coal exploration licences at Mount Penny to benefit Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid.
The upper house first made a call for papers on the alleged deal in 2009, when Mr Macdonald and the head of the Department of Industry and Investment, Richard Sheldrake, presented to parliament one box of privileged papers and one box of non-privileged papers.
Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham sparked concerns in December last year that some key documents were missing.
Advice was then sought from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), currently investigating the alleged deal as part of its inquiry into the state's largest-ever possible corruption case.
In a letter Mr Harwin read to the house on Thursday, Commissioner David Ipp said: "The commission has now completed that exercise." The letter said a commission officer had catalogued the documents produced in the response to the order for papers, and then compared that list with the relevant exhibits tendered during Operation Jasper.
"The commission officer then created a document comparison matrix listing the documents considered to be possibly relevant to the order for papers, but which do not appear to have been included in the production to parliament ... ," it said.
"The commission does not propose to take any further action in relation to this matter unless parliament wishes it to do so."
Mr Harwin said the matter would now go to the privileges committee.
"As your president I regard the privileges and powers of this house as matters of vital importance," he said.
"It is essential that this matter be dealt with in a way that upholds the dignity, role and powers of this house."
The Privileges Committee will now look at the documents contained in the ICAC comparison and consider further action, including whether it should be referred back to the watchdog.
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