NSW ICAC turmoil: Shocks galore in relentless probing

Even before the explosive examination of Gladys Berejiklian, the corruption inquiry into disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire has delivered several bombshells.

Daryl Maguire with Gladys Berejiklian.

Even before the explosive examination of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, the corruption inquiry into disgraced former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire has delivered several bombshells, slowly revealing an alleged shady network of illegitimate business dealings he tried to stitch together.

The Operation Keppel probe has brought forward almost 20 witnesses and more than 200 exhibits of tendered evidence during the inquiry, which has covered Mr Maguire’s parliamentary career from 2012 until he resigned on August 3, 2018.

But on each of the 15 days at the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the hearing has slowly crept closer to the Premier and her office, detailing Mr Maguire’s alleged unscrupulous attempts to wield his parliamentary position to pursue his and his business associates’ fin­ancial interests.

On September 20, the inquiry began with Phillip Elliott, the de facto director and sole shareholder of G8wayinternational — a “cash for visa scheme” company that the inquiry heard Mr Maguire ran behind the scenes.

While Mr Elliott said he had little recollection of the visa scheme, the following days would hear from Riverina-based businessmen, each of whom admitted to being paid tens of thousand of dollars to sign falsified immigration documents providing Chinese nat­ionals visas without requiring them to work.

One businessman, Great Southern Electrical managing director Shaun Duffy, said he received a $48,000 cash payment from Maggie Wang, the linchpin of G8wayinternational’s immigration service, for signing a “training agreement” — a fee to help the “advancement of visa applications” — in 2014.

Ms Wang told the inquiry Mr Maguire used his parliamentary office as a drop-off point for cash payments, and she delivered envelopes containing up to $15,000 to Macquarie Street on several occasions — his cut for taking part in the illegal operation.

The fees for the visa scheme paled in comparison to a possible commission from a proposed $330m sale of the ­Waterhouse family’s Smart West Sydney development site near Badgerys Creek airport. After he introduced Louise Raedler Waterhouse to property broker William Luong at a dinner at the Marigold restaurant in Sydney’s Chinatown, the corruption inquiry heard, Mr Maguire stood to make $690,000 from the proposed sale to a Chinese development company.

When the sale stalled because of zoning and road access issues, he began lobbying NSW bureaucrats and government officials and eventually passed on the Premier’s personal email address, telling the daughter of bookmaker Bill Waterhouse to “stroke her ego”.

During his time as chairman of the Asia Pacific Friendship Group, Mr Maguire visited several countries across the South Pacific, exploring commercial opportunities for a Chinese business group.

When a divorce settlement left him with more than $1m worth of debt, by 2018 Mr Maguire had begun trying to find business deals that would enable him to leave his political career, allowing his relationship with Ms Berejiklian to become public.

After the Waterhouse deal collapsed, Mr Maguire had two options: friend and property developer Joseph Alha and a potential board position with United World Enterprises, a Chinese-based company. After these proved unfruitful, the Wagga Wagga MP began making representations to the Premier’s office on behalf of Mr Alha.