ICAC: Gladys Berejiklian seen in 2017 photo with property developer Iwan Sunito

A photograph shows Gladys Berejiklian had contact with a property developer despite her evidence to the contrary before ICAC.

Gladys Berejiklian (right) is seen with Crown Group Chairman and Group CEO Iwan Sunito (left), as well as Hornsby mayor Philip Ruddock (second from right) and his wife Heather in a 2017 photograph obtained by The Australian.

Gladys Berejiklian may have misled the ICAC after claiming she had no knowledge of a prominent Sydney property developer whose name emerged in telephone intercepts, with a photograph allegedly contradicting her account and showing the pair together at a ribbon-cutting in late 2017.

The photograph, obtained exclusively by The Australian, shows Ms Berejiklian with Crown Group Chairman and Group CEO Iwan Sunito during the unveiling of convict artefacts that were discovered during construction of an apartment tower in Parramatta in December 2017.

Hornsby mayor Philip Ruddock and his wife Heather were also pictured in the photograph, which suggests Ms Berejiklian had at least some knowledge of the developer.

Ms Berejiklian appeared as a witness on Monday at an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry examining the financial arrangements of former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire. Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire maintained a secret five-year relationship during which they routinely discussed the former Wagga Wagga MPs business dealings.

Under questioning on Monday, Ms Berejiklian was played an intercepted phone conversation in which Mr Maguire referred to a pending meeting request with the premier from a man named “Sunito”, understood to be the residential developer and Crown Group CEO.

The discussion occurred within three months of Ms Berejiklian’s ribbon cutting event with the developer in Parramatta.

“See you’re gonna get a meeting from ah, a request from Sunito as well,” Mr Maguire said in the February 2018 call, to which Ms Berejiklian replied: “Mmm.”

Counsel Assisting the inquiry Scott Robertson then asked the premier about her knowledge of the developer.

“There was a reference at the start of the call to a potential meeting request from a Sunito. Who was Mr Sunito?”

Disgraced MP Daryl Maguire (left) with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Picture: File

“I don’t know,” Ms Berejiklian replied.

“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,” the premier said. “I don’t know who that person is.”

The emergence of the photograph is likely to add further pressure to Ms Berejiklian’s account of her relationship with Mr Maguire, which she has insisted was kept entirely separate from her professional responsibilities as a holder of high office.

Mr Maguire will give evidence today and Ms Berejiklian has agreed to be recalled to answer questions at the ICAC should the need arise.