SYDNEY: A cruel and heartless prank has left NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet in a private hospital and only now slowly recovering from shock and acute depression.

Mr Perrottet was rendered unconscious and found slumped face down on his desk in the premier’s office in Martin Place in the inner city about 11am after he opened a letter purporting to be from the state’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

The letter advised the Premier that ICAC’s many findings into the performance and possible corrupt conduct of former Premier Gladys Berejiklian were so extensive and so potentially damaging that they would need to be released over three full days, Wednesday to Friday 22-24 March next year.

The NSW state election is on Saturday 25 March, 2023.

The Bug understands the NSW police are investigating the incident with one senior officer saying it was probably the most cruel and heartless prank he had ever investigated.

“We will track down and prosecute to the full extent of the law the sadistic coward responsible for this outrageous attack on the life of any elected parliamentarian, let alone the state’s leader,” the officer said.

“Whoever did this went to extraordinary lengths to recreate the exact facsimile of an ICAC letterhead and the signature of its executive officer was a near-perfect copy.

“The Premier, who is a man not easily fooled, it must be said, could easily have gone into cardiac arrest and died.”

Mr Perrottet is expected to be kept in for observation at least until the New Year in the Barry O’Farrell licensed wing of the Sir Robert Askin Private Hospital for Liberal Luminaries in not-so-leafy Elizabeth Bay.