Senior advisers may front NSW ICAC probe

Some of the NSW government’s most senior advisers could be dragged into a corruption investigation against former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.

Former NSW Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.

Some of the NSW government’s most senior advisers could be dragged into a corruption investigation against former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, who resigned after admitting he sought payments to help broker a deal with a Chinese developer.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s former chief of staff Sarah Cruickshank will likely be called before the Independent Commission Against Corruption, along with Liberal MP Mark Coure, Deputy Premier John Barilaro’s strategy director Jock Sowter and deputy Treasury secretary Sarah Hill.

The ICAC began hearings as part of its Operation Keppel probe on Monday, with Mr Maguire accused of using his position for fin­ancial gain, taking a fee for “opening doors” — including ­arranging a “courtesy call” with former premier Barry O’Farrell.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Scott Robertson, detailed how Mr Maguire controlled a company known as G8wayinternational but used Wagga businessman Phillip Elliott as a public front.

Mr Maguire also ran a cash-for-visas “scam” through the company, Mr Robertson alleged.

The reason for calling Ms Cruickshank, who quit the Premier’s office earlier this year and became the deputy Department of Premier & Cabinet secretary, and others remains unclear.

They are not the subject of any allegations of wrongdoing.

The “illegitimate” visa scheme, the ICAC heard, involved G8wayinternational linking Chinese nat­ionals with Wagga businesses that would sponsor them without requiring any work. The scheme allegedly netted the company and Mr Maguire thousands of dollars.

During 2013, Mr Robertson told the hearing, one of Ms Berejiklian’s former advisers, Zach Bentley, provided assistance with visa applications for G8wayinternational. He was not working for Ms Berejiklian at the time.

The hearing was also presented an extract of a 2017 phone conversation between Mr Maguire and a business associate, during which the former Wagga Wagga MP said: “Samoa is definitely a go.”

Mr Robertson told the hearing this likely referred to a ­casino development in which G8wayinternational, or Mr ­Maguire, may have had an interest.

“That’s good, we need a result. We’ve got to get a bit of cash flow going back into the tin,” the associate replied.

The ICAC also heard alle­gations that Mr Maguire may have improperly used his role “and the diplomatic weight” of his chairmanship of the Asia Pacific Friendship Group to pursue deals across China, Australia and the South Pacific.

Another email exchange, discussing a Canterbury real estate project, showed Mr Maguire trying to broker a deal between a Chinese investor and a property developer in exchange for a fee.

“And so this was a potential development opportunity in respect of which G8wayinternational might stand to make some money,” Mr Robertson said.

Other evidence showed Mr Maguire attempting to leverage his political position while coercing other government officials to do the “legitimate” work.

“I need someone to go in to do some simpler … lobby work and whatever, I can make all the appointments and do all that … you can talk to planning, you can talk to those people and do a legitimate job,” Mr Maguire told Michael Hawatt, a former councillor for Canterbury Council, in 2016.

“And then the ones that I need to do, I will take him by the hand and make sure that happens.”

Mr Maguire resigned from the Liberal Party in 2018 after ICAC played recordings of his conversations, and the former parliamentary secretary admitted he was trying to earn money by setting up developers with investors.

He refused to resign from parliament before the March 2019 election but eventually relented and resigned, with the Liberal Party losing Wagga Wagga to independent Joe McGirr, the first time it had not held the electorate since 1957.