ICAC: Phone log reveals truth behind Kaila Murnain’s meeting
Suspended NSW Labor boss accused of “fabricating” evidence of calls with Sam Dastyari, party lawyer.
Welcome to our coverage of the ICAC hearings investigating allegations concerning political donations, NSW Labor, members of Chinese Friends of Labor and others. Today, suspended Labor HQ boss Kaila Murnain returned to the stand.
Elias Visontay 3.50pm: Phone logs reveal timing of meeting
Kaila Murnain has clashed with a lawyer accusing her of “fake tears” and “a complete fabrication” of evidence as he questioned her memory of how the NSW Labor Party handled unaccounted for cash donations from a fundraising dinner.
Tony McInerney SC, who is representing Ian Robertson, the Labor Party’s lawyer in 2016, grilled Ms Murnain over the events of 16 September 2016 when she consulted Mr Robertson and former Labor senator Sam Dastyari.
She had allegedly been seeking advice about how to respond to a conversation she had that day with NSW Labor upper house MP Ernest Wong, who had allegedly told her about a donation that was not given by the person named in party records.
Ms Murnain had previously said she consulted Mr Dastyari who advised her to seek advice from Mr Robertson.
However telephone call logs made available to the inquiry today show she had already met with Mr Robertson before she met with Mr Dastyari.
Earlier, Ms Murnain had said she placed “all of (her) trust and confidence in” Mr Robertson when she allegedly got advice from him on 16 September 2016 to not immediately act on the $100,000 cash in unaccounted for donations the party received.
“The advice I got in 2016 didn’t sit right but I thought Ian (Robertson) was a very honest person.”
The call logs also detail exchanges with former state Labor leader Luke Foley.
Asked if her version of the days events was incorrect, Ms Murnain said “it’s possible that the meeting (with Mr Dastyari) happened afterwards”.
“I can only tell you what I remember.
“I’ve tried my best to remember the sequence of events.
“I acknowledge it’s absolutely possible that meeting happened afterwards,” she said.
Mr McInerney then accused Ms Murnain of telling “a complete fabrication”.
“You are here to colloquially cover you own backside and destroy Mr Robertson’s reputation,” Mr McInerney said.
Later, Ms Murnain began crying as she said: “Ian (Robertson) is someone I respect a great deal.
“If you think this is some made up story to throw someone under the bus you’re kidding yourself,” Ms Murnain staggered.
Mr McInerney replied: “they’re fake tears Ms Murnain, they’re not real”.
In relation to more than $100,000 in donations received at a 2015 Chinese Friends of Labor dinner, Ms Murnain also admitted that not every donor had filled out a donation form that was then recorded by the party.
Elias Visontay 2.10pm: What’s the benefit to Huang?
Returning from a lunch break, Kaila Murnain has defended the practice of senior politicians meeting the party’s biggest donors, despite saying donations were “not an explicit transactional arrangement”.
“Politicians in particular have to be accessible because they’re elected by the people,” Ms Murnain said when asked about donors having access to Labor politicians.
“It’s not an explicit transactional arrangement.
“I couldn’t speak for donors.”
She was specifically asked about the alleged effort to conceal property developer’s Huang Xiangmo’s name from a $100,000 donation to the party.
“A secret contribution of $100,000 from Mr Huang is highly unlikely to benefit him in any way?” Ms Murnain was asked.
“I imagine it wouldn’t, no,” Ms Murnain replied.
Asked what benefit there was for donors, like Mr Huang, whose names were not registered to their donations, Ms Murnain said: “You’d have to ask him on what his expectations would be”.
Elias Visontay 12.50pm: ‘I didn’t do the right thing’
Suspended NSW Labor head office boss Kaila Murnain has broken down in the witness stand at a corruption inquiry, admitting she “didn’t do the right thing” when she withheld information about what she knew of an illegal party donation in an initial interrogation in July.
Ms Murnain was being questioned about a meeting she had with Labor upper house MP Ernest Wong in September 2016 when he allegedly first told her about a donation that was not given by the person named in party records.
When asked why she failed to mention the meeting during an initial compulsory examination when she was summoned to the Independent Commission Against Corruption on 29 July this year, she claimed she had forgotten the meeting.
She claimed she had been too focused on her memory of a separate Chinese Friends of Labor dinner in March 2015 and possible donation irregularities.
Ms Murnain only told investigators about her meeting with Mr Wong at a second round of private evidence on 26 August this year, when she voluntarily chose to speak to with ICAC investigators.
“I’ve never been to a court before,” Ms Murnain said on Thursday when asked why she hadn’t initially given evidence to her “full knowledge”.
“I’ve never been through a process like this before and I have never been in a court,” Ms Murnain said
“I felt the need to come back to do the right thing.”
Ms Murnain is already at risk of possible charges for her alleged role in circumventing electoral funding laws NSW, after admitting in ICAC evidence last week that she stayed silent about an illegal donation and also withheld information during an initial investigation by the NSW Electoral Commission. The offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ jail.
Giving false evidence to the ICAC is an offence with a maximum penalty of two years’ jail.
This morning’s hearing re-examined how the NSW ALP general secretary, who was suspended last week and will not be returning to her position, about when she learned about fake donations alleged to have been used to cover up $100,000 cash handed to the NSW ALP by Chinese property developer Haung Xiangmo.
Ms Murnain had previously said she asked then federal Labor senator Sam Dastyari what she should do, who told her to consult the party’s lawyer Ian Robertson.
However phone logs investigated by ICAC indicate Ms Murnain had already met with Mr Robertson prior to meeting Mr Dastyari in his car. She had numerous contacts with Mr Dastyari prior to the meeting with the Labor lawyer that day.
With Brad Norington
Brad Norington 12.00pm: Developer’s late-night visit to ex-worker
A Chinese property developer allegedly involved in illegal donations to the NSW Labor Party paid a late-night visit to the home of a former employee who is a key witness at a corruption inquiry and previously feared his former boss would hire someone to “hurt” him.
Alex Wu, managing director of Wu International, was revealed on Wednesday as having visited retired employee Steve Tong shortly before 9pm in November last year.
Mr Wu, also known as Alex Wood, spoke to Mr Tong outside his Pennant Hills house in Sydney’s northwest in the dark after being driven there from his Chatswood headquarters by his chauffeur cousin, Yueran Zhan.
The visit occurred on the same day Mr Tong had received a summons to give private evidence to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption about allegedly “fake” donations used to cover up the true source of $100,000 cash handed to NSW Labor after a March 2015 fundraiser.
Chris Merritt 11.30am: ACCC to pay costs as Obeid case fails
A full bench of the Federal Court has unanimously confirmed that one of the most high-profile Obeid-related deals that featured in sensational corruption hearings in Sydney was actually a commercial transaction that complied with the requirements of competition law.
The unanimous ruling is at odds with accusations made at public hearings conducted by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption which led to Wednesday’s failed court action by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.
The Federal Court has confirmed that John McGuigan, a former global chairman of Baker McKenzie, did not engage in cartel conduct when his company, Cascade Coal, negotiated a complicated commercial deal with entities associated with Moses Obeid and his brother Paul Obeid.
Wayward QLD Labor MP returns after legal woes
Wayward Queensland Labor MP Jimmy Sullivan will make a surprise reappearance at the party’s caucus love-in next week, but will factional treachery kill the vibe?
So many visits signal a whole lot of trouble
Labor is in trouble in the Northern Territory and in danger of losing at least one seat – Darwin-based Solomon – at the election.