ICAC bombshell: Gladys Berejiklian distances herself from Daryl Maguire
When Daryl Maguire started telling his girlfriend, Premier Gladys Berejiklian, of his business dealings with a member of the Waterhouse family, she was quick to shut him off.
NSW
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Premier Gladys Berejiklian was keen to keep herself at arm’s length from her secret boyfriend’s business dealings.
Daryl Maguire was hoping he’d earn a debt-busting fee of up to $1 million for helping broker a deal for Louise Raedler-Waterhouse, a member of the famous racing family, to sell land near the western Sydney airport site at Badgerys Creek to Chinese developers.
But when the former Wagga Liberal MP excitedly told Ms Berejiklian the deal was close, she quickly distanced herself.
“I don’t need to know about that bit,” she told him in a recorded phone call played to the corruption watchdog on Monday.
“No you don’t,” he agreed.
Mr Maguire had just told her that go-between William Luong had given him the heads up and he was looking forward to paying down his substantial debts.
“The good news is William tells me we’ve done our deal so hopefully that’s about half of all that (debt) gone now,” he told Ms Berejiklian in a recorded phone call played to the ICAC hearing yesterday.
MP put Waterhouse in direct contact with Premier, ICAC hears
Mr Luong was one of the many characters involved in Mr Maguire’s bid to secure the Badgerys Creek deal on behalf of Ms Raedler- Waterhouse, daughter of Sydney bookmaking giant Bill Waterhouse and the honorary Consul General to Tonga.
Mr Maguire allegedly introduced her to Mr Luong who offered to act as an agent for her in the development. Mr Luong told the ICAC he pushed her toward selling the 230 hectare property, known as SmartWest, to a large Chinese buyer for a price close to $330 million.
Premier’s phone calls and text messages to Maguire revealed
The prospective buyer was a company called Country Garden – who had previously hoped to buy an even bigger slice of land owned by now-convicted killer businessman Ron Medich.
Mr Luong told the ICAC Ms Raedler-Waterhouse instructed him to “take care of Daryl” in the event of a sale, which would have been a cut of about $690,000 but could have ended up as high as $1m.
The ICAC initially heard Mr Maguire released Ms Berejiklian’s private email to Ms Raedler-Waterhouse and urged her to send a letter explaining the issues.
The ICAC also heard he was pushing government officials to help the developer make changes to the zoning and roads of SmartWest in 2017.
When Roads Minister Melinda Pavey’s office was unable to secure the desired outcome with a problem intersection, Mr Maguire pushed further.
He appeared optimistic when, in September 2017, he told Ms Berejiklian he’d “finally got Badgerys Creek stuff done”. “I’ll make enough money to pay off my debts which will be good.”
But the sale never eventuated and, according to evidence before the ICAC, none of the requested changes were made to SmartWest.
Ms Berejiklian, speaking after her ICAC appearance, was grateful and thanked public servants for ensuring her ex-boyfriend’s deal didn’t go ahead.