ICAC inquiry: Taxpayers to cover legal costs for Gladys Berejiklian and Daryl Maguire

The former NSW premier received approval for ex gratia payments to pay for a team of lawyers including two of the nation’s top barristers.

Paul Doorn arrives at ICAC on Tuesday. Picture: Nikki Short

Gladys Berejiklian’s legal costs will be covered by taxpayers during her appearances at the Independent Commission Against Corruption, after she received approval for ex gratia payments to pay for a team of lawyers including two of the nation’s top barristers.

Ms Berejiklian is being represented by five lawyers at the ICAC hearings, including prominent silks Bret Walker SC and Sophie Callan SC. Mr Walker’s daily costs are reportedly as high as $25,000. He did not return a request for comment.

The Secretary of the Department of Communities and Justice has also agreed to fund the legal costs of former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire who, along with Ms Berejiklian, remains the investigative target of the inquiries.

Deputy Liberal leader Stuart Ayres, being represented by two lawyers, one of whom is a senior counsel, also successfully applied for ex gratia payments to cover his legal costs. Mr Ayres will appear before the Commission on Friday. He declined to comment.

Former premier Mike Baird, who will appear on Wednesday, and former deputy premier John Barilaro, appearing next Tuesday, did not apply for legal assistance, The Australian has confirmed.

Gladys Berejiklian walks to her Sydney home on Tuesday. Picture: John Grainger

“Gladys Berejiklian applied for and was granted by the Solicitor-General, under delegation from the Attorney-General, legal representation under Premier’s Memorandum M2019-01,” a spokeswoman for the Department of Communities and Justice said.

“The grant of legal representation is subject to conditions including level of legal representation and rates. It is in the public interest that witnesses are aware of their rights and obligations. Legal representation is an important way of ensuring this.”

The DCJ spokeswoman added that witnesses would have to repay the costs of their legal assistance, with interest, if they are subsequently convicted of an indictable offence. Ms Berejiklian was contacted for comment.

But Ms Berejiklian and others appearing before ICAC could still face significant out-of-pocket costs, given the ex gratia payments they are receiving are capped at daily rates. As of August 2020, the government pays $2950 per day for a solicitor, $2212.50 for a junior counsel and $4880 for a senior counsel.

One public official who has been investigated by ICAC, and who declined to comment on the record, said the capping of rates meant appearing before the Commission – particularly as an investigative target – could result in legal costs that exceed $500,000.

It is understood former premier Barry O’Farrell received similar funding assistance during his appearances at ICAC in 2014, as did former police minister Mike Gallacher and other Liberal MPs investigated under Operation Spicer.

ICAC is investigating a series of allegations against Ms Berejiklian that arose out of an ongoing corruption inquiry into Mr Maguire, who was revealed last year to have been in a secret relationship with the former premier.

Inquiries into the former premier include questions over whether she deliberately withheld knowledge of Mr Maguire’s corrupt conduct, and whether she encouraged that conduct by failing to act within her duties.

An additional focal point will be whether Ms Berejiklian breached the public trust by failing to disclose her relationship with Mr Maguire while he sought funding for projects in his electorate, and which the former premier allegedly assisted to advance through government processes.

A funding proposal central to ICAC’s inquiries is a $5.5m grant awarded to the Wagga Wagga-based Australian Clay Target Association, and Tuesday’s hearing took further evidence from bureaucrats involved in the formulation of the proposal. Paul Doorn, formerly executive director of the Office of Sport, told ICAC Mr Maguire had made representations on behalf of the ACTA for government funding as far back as 2012.

Emails and ministerial documents tendered to the hearing reveal his attempts were graded “low priority”, and in 2013 the ACTA’s proposal to upgrade its facilities was declined by former sports minister Graham Annesley. It was again declined in March 2016 by another sports minister, Stuart Ayres.

But just three months later, Mr Maguire had successfully procured $40,000 from the minister’s office to help the ACTA pay for a business case that would outline its proposal in greater detail.

“How did we go from the minister saying, ‘lots of requests, lots of proposals, we can’t fund them all’, to a ministerial briefing saying why don’t we at least give them $40,000 or thereabouts to put together a business case?” asked counsel assisting the ICAC Scott Robertson.

Mr Doorn replied: “There was an underspend at the end of that financial year, so we would have been asked to provide some advice on what projects could be funded … out of that underspend.”

Mr Doorn said he was later asked by the minister’s office to prepare an urgent submission to the government’s Expenditure Review Committee, which would allow the business case and funding proposal to bypass ordinary decision-making protocols.

“Do you recall whether you had any explanation as to why it was the minister’s office view that it should be dealt with (with) urgency?” Mr Robertson said.

“Not a rationale as to why they needed it urgently,” Mr Doorn replied.

The ERC was chaired at the time by then treasurer Ms Berejiklian and ICAC has taken evidence from other witnesses who said it was her decision as to what items would be listed on the ERC’s closely guarded agenda.

Zach Bentley, formerly a strategic adviser in Ms Berejiklian’s office, said he recalled being asked by Nigel Blunden, an official for ex-premier Mr Baird, why funding was being fast-tracked for the ACTA facility in a safe Liberal seat. Asked if Ms Berejiklian supported the listing of the ACTA funding on the ERC agenda in late 2016, Mr Bentley replied: “That’s correct.”