Gladys Berejiklian staffer tells ICAC that the former Premier likely lied to her
Gladys Berejiklian’s chief of staff has told ICAC that it was likely her former boss lied to her about her relationship with former MP Daryl Maguire.
NSW
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Gladys Berejiklian confided in her closest adviser about her ties with disgraced MP Daryl Maguire as early as 2018, but “lied” by saying the relationship had ended before she became Premier, the Independent Commission Against Corruption has heard.
The ICAC was told Ms Berejiklian told her then chief of staff that she had been involved with Mr Maguire because she was concerned she could have been “dragged into” the scandal around his resignation in 2018 if the pair had been spotted out to dinner together.
In explosive evidence to the ICAC, Sarah Cruickshank said she first learned of a relationship between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire the night he was forced to resign after being embroiled in a previous corruption inquiry – on July 13, 2018.
But, in a phone call where Ms Berejiklian was said to be “distressed,” the then-Premier insisted the relationship was “historical,” and was over “before she became Premier,” Ms Cruickshank said.
Commissioner Ruth McColl put it to Ms Cruickshank that Ms Berejiklian had “lied” about the relationship ending before 2017.
Ms Cruickshank eventually admitted there “probably” isn’t any other way to describe her former boss saying the relationship was over in 2018, when it didn’t end until last year.
Meanwhile, documents tendered by the ICAC have revealed that Ms Berejiklian was told that information from ministerial staff about Mr Maguire had been passed onto the corruption watchdog.
The sensitive briefings, which noted Ministers had a responsibility to report suspicions of corrupt conduct – were given directly to Ms Berejiklian when she was still in a “close personal relationship” with Mr Maguire.
After Mr Maguire fronted the ICAC in July 2018, Ms Cruickshank told ministerial chiefs of staff to encourage other advisers to report “any concerns” about Mr Maguire so they could be passed onto the ICAC.
A briefing note sent to the Premier, which was returned with her signature, confirmed that on at least one occasion, such information had been passed onto the ICAC.
In private evidence to the ICAC, Ms Berejiklian was asked six times whether, in July 2018, she “suspected” Mr Maguire had been “engaged in corrupt conduct”.
After repeatedly saying she “didn’t know,” Ms Berejiklian only denied having any suspicions on her sixth attempt to answer the question
Ms Cruickshank said she would have warned Ms Berejiklian of the “optics” about the relationship if she’d known about it, telling her that she needed to be “very careful” that probity measures were in place, the ICAC heard.
Ms Cruickshank said she was “mortified” when she discovered Ms Berejiklian’s secret relationship continued until last year, in part because she had given “free character assessments” of Mr Maguire while he was still Ms Berejiklian’s secret lover.
She recalled one conversation after Mr Maguire quit in which she told the then-Premier to have “nothing more to do with” Mr Maguire.
“(Ms Berejiklian) had said at the time something like ‘he texts me sometimes’ … and we said ‘don’t talk to him, don’t have anything to do with him’,” Ms Cruickshank said.
However, under cross-examination from Ms Berejiklian’s barrister Sophie Callan SC, Ms Cruickshank said her former boss was “very, very upfront and very much full of integrity. I don’t feel that there was ever any time that I felt she was asking me to do something special for Wagga or something special for Mr Maguire,” she said.
CUT ALL TIES: GLADYS WARNED
Gladys Berejiklian told her top adviser she had a “relationship” with MP Daryl Maguire more than two years before the controversy became public.
The adviser has claimed the Premier told her it was a “historic relationship” despite later revealing to the corruption watchdog was still dating the Wagga Wagga MP.
Sarah Cruickshank appeared before the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Tuesday afternoon as the watchdog examines Ms Berejiklian’s role in government grants for her secret lover’s electorate.
Ms Cruickshank, who was the Chief of Staff for Ms Berejiklian, said she received a phone call from the then-Premier in July 2018.
The ICAC’s Operation Dasha had just revealed Maguire was allegedly tangled up with dubious business dealings and his political life was ending under a cloud of corruption.
The Premier said she had a “relationship or friendship” with Maguire some years earlier, Ms Cruickshank said.
“She had said it was historic - before she was Premier, before I was her Chief of Staff,” Ms Cruickshank said.
“She was quite clear that it was before she became Premier.”
Ms Berejiklian was “distressed” because Maguire’s behaviour was likely to bring the government into disrepute, Ms Cruickshank said.
Ms Cruickshank said there was no suggestion, in 2018, that Ms Berejiklian was still dating the embattled MP.
The adviser recalled meeting with Ms Berejiklian in her office and telling the Premier to cut ties with Maguire.
“She said he texts me sometimes and we said don’t have anything to do with him,” Ms Cruickshank said.
But the ICAC has heard the relationship continued for at least two more years after Maguire stepped down in the wake of Operation Dasha.
Maguire would ultimately face his own investigation, Operation Keppel, which revealed the relationship to the public in October 2020.
Ms Cruickshank said Ms Berejiklian, in 2018, was concerned the media would approach her and ask if the Premier and Maguire were “close”.
Specifically, Ms Cruickshank said, Ms Berejiklian was concerned she may have been spotted having dinner with Maguire in public.
Operation Keppel has previously heard Ms Berejiklian had gone out for dinner at a swanky pub with Maguire in Wagga.
Ms Cruickshank had known Ms Berejiklian since their student politics days in their early 20s.
She described the former premier as full of integrity.
But Ms Berejiklian had “categorically” told Ms Cruickshank her relationship with Maguire pre-dated her Premiership - and told the ICAC another story - the staffer said.
Ms Berejiklian and Maguire will both face the commission later this week.
GLADYS STAFFER KNEW OF SECRET MAGUIRE RELATIONSHIP
Gladys Berejiklian told her top adviser she had a “relationship” with MP Daryl Maguire more than two years before the controversy became public.
But, the adviser has told the corruption watchdog, the Premier told her it was a “historic relationship”, however ICAC has heard she was still dating the Wagga Wagga MP.
Sarah Cruickshank appeared before the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Tuesday afternoon as the watchdog examines Ms Berejiklian’s role in government grants for her secret lover’s electorate.
Ms Cruickshank, who was the Chief of Staff for Ms Berejiklian, said she received a phone call from the then-Premier in July 2018.
The ICAC’s Operation Dasha had just revealed Maguire was allegedly tangled up with dubious business dealings and his political life was ending under a cloud of corruption.
The Premier said she had a “relationship or friendship” with Maguire some years earlier, Ms Cruickshank said.
“She had said it was historic - before she was Premier, before I was her Chief of Staff,” Ms Cruickshank said.
“She was quite clear that it was before she became Premier.”
Ms Cruickshank said there was no suggestion, in 2018, that Ms Berejiklian was still dating the embattled MP.
The ICAC has heard the relationship continued for at least two more years after Maguire stepped down in the wake of Operation Dasha.
Maguire would ultimately face his own investigation, Operation Keppel, which revealed the relationship to the public in October 2020.
Ms Cruickshank said Ms Berejiklian was concerned the media would approach her and ask if the Premier and Maguire were “close”.
Specifically, Ms Cruickshank said, Ms Berejiklian was concerned she may have been spotted having dinner with Maguire in public.
Operation Keppel has previously heard Ms Berejiklian had gone out for dinner at a swanky pub with Maguire in Wagga.
MAGUIRE REVEAL WAS ‘DIFFICULT’: GLADYS AIDE
Gladys Berejiklian’s former top aide said the former premier never treated her secret lover Daryl Maguire with any favour and the relationship only emerged in a “difficult” conversation after the corruption watchdog came knocking.
Neil Harley, Ms Berejiklian’s former chief of staff, appeared before the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Tuesday.
He championed Ms Berejiklian saying he had never met a more fiercely dedicated public servant in his life.
Mr Harley said Ms Berejiklian only divulged her relationship with Maguire to her closest staffers once the ICAC summoned her to appear in October 2020.
“It was a very difficult conversation for us both,” he told the ICAC.
“She’s a very private person.”
Mr Harley said he didn’t discuss the details with Ms Berejiklian about her relationship and was surprised to later learn how recent it had been going on.
The ICAC is examining a $5.5m grant approved for a shooting club in Wagga and a $20m funding reservation made for a conservatorium in the regional town represented by Maguire.
Mr Harley, in an email tendered to the ICAC, noted he didn’t want to push for a project but Premier Berejiklian did.
Ms Berejiklian’s other top staffers – Sarah Cruickshank and Brad Burden – will give evidence today.
It will be Ms Cruickshank’s second appearance before the ICAC after she gave evidence last year about Maguire’s plan to gatecrash another MP’s trip to China.
The ICAC, last year, was investigating whether Maguire had monetised his parliamentary office and was setting up meetings between Chinese and Australian businesses for a commission.
Bureaucrats have told the ICAC their conversations with Deputy Premier John Barilaro’s staffers, in those years, left them with an understanding Premier Berejiklian wanted the projects to get across the line.
Mr Barilaro, on Monday, told the ICAC he felt Ms Berejiklian’s secretive relationship was a conflict of interest that should have been declared.
Ms Berejiklian denies all wrongdoing and will appear before the ICAC on Thursday and Friday.
BEREJIKLIAN APPEARANCE DELAYED
The investigation has been pushed into a third week of public hearings with the former premier’s appearance delayed by a day.
The ICAC updated its witness list for the hearing on Tuesday morning, with Department of Regional NSW Gary Barnes called back to give further evidence to the inquiry on Wednesday.
Former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire will appear on Thursday.
Ms Berejiklian is now scheduled to appear for two days of evidence on Friday and Monday next week.
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