Berejiklian photo with Iwan Sunito surfaces after ICAC testimony
Gladys Berejiklian appeared at a ribbon cutting ceremony alongside a prominent Sydney property developer - a man who the Premier said she did not know in her testimony to the ICAC.
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Gladys Berejiklian appeared at a ribbon cutting ceremony alongside a prominent Sydney property developer - a man who the Premier said she did not know in her testimony to the ICAC.
Ms Berejiklian was pictured with Crown Group Chairman and Group CEO Iwan Sunito cutting a ribbon to open a heritage centre to display convict artefacts in December 2017.
The Premier’s attendance at the ceremony was heralded by Crown Group in a media release at the time:
“Australia’s most well-preserved convict hut and the earliest surviving remains of a hotel in Australia will be available for all to see for the first time in 200 years after a new heritage display centre opened to the public today,” the media release said.
“NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian together with Crown Group Chairman and Group CEO Iwan Sunito cut the ribbon to open the centre.”
The heritage centre was named after Hornsby Mayor and long-serving Liberal Philip Ruddock, who appeared alongside Ms Berejiklian with his wife Heather at the event.
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Mr Ruddock - who has personally known Mr Sunito for a long time - said a “very large crowd” attended the event. He said he had forgotten Ms Berejiklian was even at the event.
An intercepted telephone call between the Premier and Daryl Maguire from February 2018 mentioning Mr Sunito was played to the ICAC during Ms Berejiklian’s testimony on Monday.
“See you’re gonna get a meeting from ah, a request from Sunito as well,” Mr Maguire said to Ms Berejiklian in the phone call.
“Mmm,” she responded.
Counsel Assisting Scott Robertson asked Ms Berejiklian about her knowledge of the man.
“There was a reference towards the start of the call to a potential meeting request from a Sunito … Who was Mr Sunito?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Ms Berejiklian told the inquiry.
Mr Robertson asked: “ Was Sunito one of the developers – to your knowledge – that Mr Maguire was attempting to assist in relation to deals and the like?”
“No, he was not – not to my recollection. I don’t know who that person is,” Ms Berejiklian said.
One senior Liberal source suggested “every important person in the Liberal party” knows Mr Sunito.
However another senior Liberal said the Premier appears at countless events and it’s likely she would not remember everyone she appears in photos with.
Deputy Labor Leader Yasmin Catley has accused Ms Berejiklian of “dishonest testimony” to the ICAC.
“Gladys Berejiklian’s dishonest testimony at ICAC about who she knew, what she knew, and when she knew is beginning to unravel,” she said.
Premier Berejiklian’s office was contacted for comment.