Daryl Maguire ICAC hearing: NSW MP allegedly told mate to delete records
Former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire allegedly set up a meeting between then-NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell and a Chinese delegation, who were left insulted after the premier skipped the meal, the corruption watchdog has been told.
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Former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire got some of his business contacts - allegedly cultivated in secret thanks to the powers of his public office - an audience with the NSW Premier at Parliament House, the anti corruption watchdog has heard.
But when the state’s then leader, Barry O’Farrell, decided not to stay for lunch the Chinese delegation were “insulted” and a red-faced Maguire was left to pick up the bill, the inquiry heard.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption, on Tuesday, heard claims the former member for Wagga Wagga was secretly building a business called G8wayinternational that was making connections across the Asia Pacific.
The ICAC previously heard G8way would charge fees to introduce potential trade partners, such as a Chinese wine buyer with an Australian producer, by spruiking their connections to the highest levels of government.
That was allegedly a reference to Maguire’s political clout and the inquiry heard the MP, on one occasion, came through.
One of Maguire’s former staffers, on Tuesday, said a Chinese delegation connected to G8way met with then-Premier Barry O’Farrell in NSW Parliament House.
“Because Premier O’Farrell wasn’t staying for the lunch, the Chinese delegation said they’re not having the lunch and the question was ‘what do you do with all this food?’,” Nicole Hatton said.
Ms Hatton said Maguire told her the delegation had been “insulted” by the premier’s decision not to stay for the lunch that followed a signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding.
Maguire’s staffer said she organised the food, 20 meals, but didn’t attend herself and Maguire had to pick up the bill while the Chinese delegation went on a harbour cruise instead.
An undated image, released by the ICAC, shows Mr O’Farrell standing with the party secretary of the Liaoning Province.
G8way’s former official director, Maguire’s lifelong friend Phil Elliott, on Monday could not give the ICAC a reason why a $5,500 invoice for “introductory and interpreting” would not be linked to the meeting with Mr O’Farrell.
There is no suggestion Mr O’Farrell was aware of Maguire’s alleged activities with G8way.
Ms Hatton said Maguire had effectively turned his parliamentary office into a second office for G8way while staying formally not connected to the company.
Mr Elliott, on Tuesday, recounted a call from Maguire instructing him to “delete any records” to hide his involvement days after ICAC grilled him in 2018.
Maguire’s political career was crashing down after a separate ICAC investigation found he brokered a property deal with a local government councillor and a Chinese businessman.
Counsel Assisting the Commission Scott Robertson asked what Maguire said precisely.
“Words to the effect of ‘delete any records’,” Mr Elliott said, unclear if Maguire specified G8way or “our records”.
“He requested I did so, so I did so.”
But Mr Elliott said he didn’t simply delete the records because he was asked - the records were deleted knowing it would make it harder for the corruption watchdog, and the courts, to find out what was happening at G8way.
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“You knew there were documents associated with G8wayinternational that might implicate Mr Maguire to this commission’s investigation… and you deleted those documents with a view to assisting Mr Maguire preventing those documents coming to the notice of this commission,” Mr Robertson said.
Mr Elliott agreed.
Telephone intercepts, between Maguire and Mr Elliott in September 2017, allegedly captured the pair discussing a prospective deal with a business called “Country Garden”.
Mr Elliott told the commission he thought it was related to supermarkets but knew few other details.
By April the following year, the ICAC heard, Maguire was facing a $1 million divorce settlement - and he needed to either do a deal or borrow the money to pay out his ex-wife.
Mr Robertson suggested the business with “Country Garden” was actually a property deal around the planned airport in Sydney’s west - and it was to be Maguire’s “ticket out” of his money woes.
“He’s not talking about anything to do with supermarkets in China,” Mr Robertson said
“Mr Maguire was attempting to get himself out of his financial difficulties by doing a very significant property deal.”
The inquiry continues.
Liberal MP used political power to ‘open doors’ for China: ICAC
The state’s anti corruption watchdog has alleged that disgraced Liberal MP Daryl Maguire was the shadow director of a company that used his “diplomatic weight” to forge business connections, secure visas, gain the ear of the premier and even kickstart a casino.
The former member for Wagga Wagga stepped back from government and left politics after the Independent Commission Against Corruption heard he sought payment in exchange for broking a deal between a Chinese property developer and a local councillor.
The ICAC is now holding a separate inquiry dedicated to investigating Maguire’s conduct in office between 2012 and his resignation in 2018.
Counsel Assisting the Commission Scott Robertson said that central to the investigation was a company started by a close friend of Maguire — G8wayinternational.
Philip James Elliott told the ICAC that G8wayinternational was a vehicle for him and friend Maguire to be in business together without the MP being formally identified.
“Initially the idea was it would become a link between Australian suppliers and buyers and Chinese suppliers and buyers,” Mr Elliott said on Monday.
Mr Robertson said Maguire acted as a hidden director, seeking out business opportunities, and there was an agreement he and Mr Elliott would split the profits.
“Although Mr Maguire was not formally appointed as a director of G8wayInternational Pty Ltd, Mr Maguire controlled that company in such a way as to be a de facto director,” Mr Robertson said.
Mr Elliott agreed the understanding was that Maguire would be appointed as a director once he resigned as an MP and said that’s when he would take his share of the profits.
The ICAC alleges G8wayinternational wasn’t an aside to Maguire’s political career but rather it was interwoven with his leading roles in the NSW parliament Asia Pacific Friendship Group and the Shenzhen Asia Pacific Commercial Development Association.
“(The ICAC will) consider whether Mr Maguire improperly used his role and the accompanying diplomatic weight of his office as chair of the APFG as a ‘door opener’ or ‘gateway’ in the pursuit of his own financial interests as well as private Chinese business interests,” Mr Robertson said.
G8wayinternational made $9000, Mr Robertson said, as a commission for helping an Australian wine producer sell $300,000 worth of product to China.
The ICAC heard that in the months before Mr Elliott registered G8wayinternational, Maguire emailed that wine producer.
“We want a long term profitable partnership … Our priority is for you to gain a sale and a bigger footprint in China, we all benefit,” he allegedly wrote.
Mr Robertson said G8wayinternational also appeared to have charged a fee for an “introductory service” for a delegation from China’s Liaoning Province to the NSW parliament “during the course of which then Premier Barry O’Farrell had a courtesy call with the Party Secretary of Liaoning Province”.
Maguire allegedly handed Mr Elliott thousands of dollars in cash after G8wayinternational provided another specialised service to Chinese nationals.
“Some (of the profits) would have been kept off the books,” Mr Elliott said, saying Maguire had given him $16,000 to $18,000 cash.
“It was payment, I understand, from some immigration activity.”
That immigration activity, Mr Elliott said, had been foreshadowed at the ICAC’s opening when Mr Robertson said G8wayinternational would use Wagga businesses to sponsor Chinese people for visas in exchange for cash.
Mr Robertson said in 2017 the Samoan Chamber of Commerce emailed the Shenzen Association, of which Maguire was honorary chair, speaking about an application for a casino license.
The ICAC heard a recording of an intercepted phone call between Elliott and Macguire, from December 2017, in which Maguire allegedly tells his friend “Samoa is a go”.
“(That) may have been a reference to a casino being developed in Samoa by business interests connected with (the Shenzen Association),” Mr Robertson said.
“The call suggests that Mr Maguire and or G8WayInternational may have had a financial interest in that project … if the project proceeded there may have been ‘a bit of cash flow back in the tin’.”
The hearing continues.