Mystery deepens over email from Louise Waterhouse to Gladys Berejiklian

An IT system probe has shed new light on the missing email sent to Gladys Berejiklian by someone in contact with her secret lover.

An email to Gladys Berejiklian from a racing heir who had been told to send it by the NSW Premier’s secret lover in order to get a “tickle from up top” has gone mysteriously missing.

Gladys Berejiklian’s chief of staff first told the Independent Commission Against Corruption the email had been deleted, but later clarified that was just an “assumption”, according to newly tendered evidence to the inquiry.

The email from Louise Raedler Waterhouse to Gladys Berejiklian’s personal email address was sent on 15 November 2017.

That fact is clear from a printout from the racing heir’s end, seen by ICAC investigators looking into the dealings of the Premier’s secret ex-boyfriend, former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire.

But investigators, keen to know whether the Premier saw the email or took any action related to it, sent out a request relating to the email to her office on 2 September of this year.

Mr Maguire gave Ms Waterhouse the Premier’s personal email address on November 14, 2017. In an intercepted phone conversation, Mr Maguire told the racing heir, referring to the Premier: “Then she will then give it a tickle from up top.”

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

“Who reviewed the email and letter?”, the Commissioner, Ruth McColl, wrote in the letter to the Premier’s office.

In his response, Ms Berejiklian’s Chief of Staff, Neil Harley, wrote back six days later:

“A search conducted of the Department of Premier and Cabinet IT systems found that this email had been deleted. No record was found of that email being forwarded or actioned.”

There was however a second email from Ms Waterhouse, sent a day after the first one, which did come up in the search. In that email, the original message was embedded.

“The Premier does not have a recollection of having received, accessed or reviewed” either email, Mr Harley wrote.

Racing heir Louise Raedler Waterhouse has previously given evidence to ICAC. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

He also noted the NSW Government did not make the changes sought by Ms Waterhouse, who wanted action relating to a road issue affecting land she owned near the site of the Western Sydney Airport site.

Another two days after his letter to ICAC, Mr Harley responded to an email seeking clarification on the deleted email.

In that response, the Premier’s Chief of Staff wrote there had been an “assumption” made that the November 15 email was deleted, because it could not be found in the deleted items folder or elsewhere.

When asked on Monday in front of ICAC whether she ever gave Ms Waterhouse’s issue a “tickle from the top” the Premier answered: “Not to my recollection.”

Gladys Berejiklian sensationally revealed on Monday she was in a relationship with Daryl Maguire.

A phone call between the Premier and Mr Maguire on November 15, 2017, which was aired during her questioning, the former Wagga Wagga MP asked Ms Berejiklian whether she had received the email.

After she answered “no”, Mr Maguire said: “You will. She’ll send you an email. She’s really pissed off now so um, about the you know, the, the airport.”

The Premier has repeatedly stated she did not do anything wrong in relation to Mr Maguire’s business dealings, which are the main focus of ICAC’s inquiry. He is expected to give evidence later today.