Daryl Maguire, Gladys Berejiklian ICAC fallout continues

He was dragged into an ICAC probe involving his best mate former MP Daryl Maguire and then Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Now cleared and ‘back in business’, Sydney property developer Joe Alha reveals he has no hard feelings.

Former Liberal MP Daryl Mag­uire was so in love with then-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian that he claims he secretly gifted her a horse.

At least, that’s what he has told friends.

The mare has apparently been kept on the Wagga Wagga property where Mr Maguire resides, along with his own horses.

And, according to his friends, it remains there to this day – a symbol of their doomed relationship.

Almost two years on since the ­relationship ended after being made public during a NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigation into Mr Mag­uire’s conduct while he was a member of parliament, the fallout from the secret relationship continues.

Former premiere Gladys Berejiklian with ex-Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire.

Both Mr Maguire and Ms Berejiklian are yet to learn their fate with the findings of Operation Keppel ­expected to be released by the end of the year.

While Ms Berejiklian has moved on to a new job at Optus – and a new partner – Mr Maguire has kept to himself, earning an income from leasing out paddocks to local horse owners.

Friends say he remains embittered and has sent emotive messages to Ms Berejiklian, although it is understood these are never responded to.

Meanwhile, a key ICAC witness, Sydney property developer Joe Alha – described by Mr Maguire to Ms ­Berejiklian in a phone tap as his ­“little friend with the polished head” – has revealed to The Saturday Telegraph how last month he received a letter from the corruption watchdog, declaring how he was not considered an “affected person”.

“On the evidence presently ­before the Commission, Mr Alha is not considered an affected person,” the June 27 letter reads in part.

The J Group founder is now keen to get on with his life, including redeveloping the southwest corridor, a project he had been working on with Planning NSW until it was suddenly scrapped in 2018.

J Group property developer Joe Alha with Mr Maguire.

A builder by trade, Mr Alha started out renovating luxury homes in Sydney’s east in the late 1990s before moving into high-rise construction.

He met Mr Maguire at age 20 at a Liberal Party function and soon began helping the MP, organising volunteers during elections.

“At the start it wasn’t very buddy, buddy,” Mr Alha told The Saturday Telegraph last week.

“But when my son got sick a few years later, Daryl jumped in and really helped me at a time that was like hell on Earth for me. From that time, it got really personal. He met my wife. When he had a little meltdown with his (former wife), he stayed at my house. We’d drink together. He’d give me his pass to parliament. We’d be in his office talking about stuff.

“I used to look up to him.”

Through Mr Maguire, the Campsie developer met with numerous high-profile politicians, including former prime minister Scott Morrison. And, as was revealed at ICAC, Mr Maguire also introduced Mr Alha to Ms Berejiklian.

ICAC heard how Mr Maguire ­facilitated a “drop-in” meeting ­between Mr Alha and Ms Berejiklian in her office in 2017. Mr Maguire said he did it out of his friendship with Mr Alha rather than for any fee and that the meeting lasted “less than two minutes”.

ICAC Exhibit: Mr Alha was caught by a covert photographer from ICAC arriving at NSW parliament for a meeting with then-MP Mr Maguire. Handout via NCA NewsWire

Asked if he ever suspected his long-time friend Mr Maguire and the then-premier were in a relationship, Mr Alha said: “No way in the world.

“The first thing I said to Daryl was ‘what the f..k’ … He said ‘I couldn’t tell you’.”

Photographs taken by ICAC investigators shortly before the drop-in meeting with Ms Berejiklian took place show Mr Alha walking out the front of Parliament House with a box under his arm that would later be revealed to house a building model of a development he planned to build near Canterbury railway station as part of urban renewal of the southwest corridor.

Image of the proposed Beamish Street, Campsie development.

“Those f...ing models,” Mr Alha said. “I didn’t just walk to parliament with them, I walked everywhere with them.”

Mr Maguire told the inquiry how he had arranged for Mr Alha to meet Rob Vellar, the chief-of-staff to then-planning minister Anthony Roberts over a drink that afternoon. But after a “few glasses of red”, Mr Maguire walked Mr Alha to Ms Berejik­lian’s office.

“He adores her and just wants to say hello,” Mr Maguire told the ICAC hearing, while denying that any discussion about developments took place.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian leaves her home ahead of her former lover Daryl Maguire giving testimony at ICAC . Photo Jeremy Piper

Mr Alha said he had been unsuccessfully lobbying Canterbury City Council to realise his vision for “taller slender towers” rather than the allowable lower “blockier” developments along the corridor after buying a site in Campsie.

When the NSW government released early plans for the Sydenham-Bankstown corridor strategy in 2015 to rejuvenate the precinct, Mr Alha turned his attention to Planning NSW.

“It was going ahead. I was told it was inevitable that it would be signed off. But I was under massive pressure. I’d invested $12m. I put my whole life on the line, “ Mr Alha said.

But in 2018, the NSW government suddenly scrapped the corridor strategy.

Joe Alha with former premier Mike Baird

and with former prime minister Scott Morrison

Since ICAC revealed how Mr Maguire told Ms Berejiklian weeks before how he had been subpoenaed as part of its investigation into Canterbury City Council, Mr Alha had pondered whether the strategy – though never mentioned – was a casualty.

“Was it scrapped because of my relationship with Daryl? Was somebody spooked?” he said.

Mr Alha said he wanted people to know he is back in business and has resumed working with the council on realising his ­vision of the corridor. And despite having faced financial ruin, he still talks to Mr Maguire.

“I can’t blame him,” he said. “But the relationship should have been public. If it was, we might have avoided all of this.”

Ms Berejiklian was approached for comment.