Disgraced former MP Eddie Obeid, son Moses and ex-MP Ian Macdonald learn fate

Two disgraced former NSW ministers have learnt the outcome of their appeals against corruption convictions related to a $60m mining conspiracy.

Disgraced former NSW MP Eddie Obeid, his son Moses and former NSW mining minister Ian Macdonald have lost their bid to have their corruption convictions overturned.

The trio were sentenced to jail time in October 2021 after they were found guilty of conspiring to commit wilful misconduct in public office over a $60m mine licence.

Justice Elizabeth Fullerton found the Obeids had conspired with Macdonald, who was NSW minister of mineral resources, in 2008 about the grant of a lucrative mining exploration licence.

In 2008 and 2009, Macdonald passed on confidential information about the government tender for the licence over the Obeid family property at Mount Penny in the Bylong Valley.

Former MP Eddie Obeid, his son Moses Obeid, and former mining minister Ian Macdonald have lost their appeals against their convictions. Picture: NCA NewsWire

The coal exploration licence was granted in 2009 by Macdonald’s ministerial department and the Obeids raked in $30m.

Another $30m was in the pipeline before the Independent Commission Against Corruption intervened and cancelled the licence.

The trio were charged following an inquiry by ICAC and found guilty of the multimillion-dollar conspiracy.

Eddie Obeid was sentenced to a maximum prison term of seven years, Moses Obeid received a maximum of five years, and Macdonald was jailed for a maximum of 9 years and six months.

The trio launched an appeal to quash their convictions, with their lawyers arguing the prosecution had not shown they had plotted together to commit a crime.

Former Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid served as NSW minister for mineral resources. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

They claimed the guilty verdicts handed down two years ago were “unreasonable or unable to be supported by the evidence”.

NSW Chief Justice Andrew Bell, Acting Justice John Basten and Justice Richard Button disagreed in a written judgment handed down on Friday.

“The court is of the view that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt the existence of a conspiracy as alleged in the indictment, and that each of the co-accused were participants in it,” they wrote.

All three conviction appeals were dismissed by the panel of judges in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal.

Macdonald also failed in a separate appeal against the severity of his minimum five-year prison sentence, which his lawyers maintained was “manifestly excessive”.

Former NSW mining minister Ian MacDonald lost both appeals in the state’s highest court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

The appeal judges determined the jail term was appropriate given the “serious breach of public trust” engendered by Macdonald’s misconduct.

“Actions utterly corrosive of public trust by a minister of the Crown do unquantifiable damage to our democracy,” Chief Justice Bell wrote in the judgment.

Macdonald will be eligible to apply for parole on January 20, 2027.

The Obeids will also remain behind bars for at least a year until they have served their minimum jail terms.

Originally published as Disgraced former MP Eddie Obeid, son Moses and ex-MP Ian Macdonald learn fate