By Amber Schultz
Former NSW Liberal MP Daryl Maguire has been found guilty of giving misleading evidence to the corruption watchdog about benefits he expected to receive from the potential sale of a multimillion-dollar Sydney property.
Maguire, the former member for Wagga Wagga, provided evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption as it investigated Canterbury City Council in July 2018.
Daryl Maguire leaves court today. He faces a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment.Credit: AAP
He was found guilty on Friday morning of misleading the ICAC while giving evidence in the 2018 hearing, during which he denied knowing he would benefit for brokering a property deal at Canterbury. The offence carries a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment.
A last-minute application to suppress the verdict was thrown out on Friday afternoon, after the Herald and the ABC successfully fought it.
Maguire’s legal team had argued the conviction should be placed under a non-publication order until a separate Commonwealth trial concludes in September. He has been accused of a criminal conspiracy regarding an allegedly cash-for-visas scheme while he was sitting in parliament.
A recorded phone call and a wiretap were key pieces of evidence in Maguire’s trial, which took place in February and May this year.
Maguire was captured speaking to then-Canterbury councillor Michael Hawatt about the potential sale of a 300-unit site in Campsie for Chinese company Country Garden to buy and develop in May 2016.
In the call, Maguire told Hawatt he “need[ed] a few things to feed my friends”, and said that they wanted “30 projects rolling”.
“My client is mega-big and got mega-money,” Maguire said.
“What’s he going to give you to sell it?” Maguire asked.
Hawatt replied that he had a 300-unit site opposite Canterbury Hospital for about $160,000 each, adding there was 1.5 to 2 per cent margin for the $48 million property. Maguire said that was “better than nothing”.
Prosecutors alleged Maguire changed his evidence about not expecting a financial benefit when he was played the covertly recorded call with Hawatt.
Separately, a wiretap of a call captured three days before Maguire provided evidence to the ICAC caught him rehearsing a story in which he said he had been asking about the commission on behalf of a “mate”.
The wiretap was discovered in notes relating to a separate probe into his business dealings while in parliament, which exposed his secret relationship with then NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian.
Speaking to a friend, former Wagga Wagga City Council general manager Alan Eldridge on July 10, 2018, Maguire said he had “stitched it all together now” and was “clear” about his conversations.
Eldridge anticipated Maguire would be asked: “Did you receive a benefit or did anyone with a close nexus to you receive a benefit?”
Maguire replied he had “never asked for a dollar, they never offered a dollar, nor would I take a dollar.
“I don’t know that anyone that they dealt with actually bought property. I don’t know what happened. But I certainly didn’t receive a benefit, nor would I expect a benefit. That would be just stupidity.”
Arguing for the suppression order, Maguire’s barrister Rebecca Gall said the jury in Maguire’s September trial might be influenced by the reporting of this conviction as both charges related to “offences of dishonesty”.
“There’s a risk the jury would draw a connection,” she said.
However, barrister Dauid Sibtain, SC, representing the Herald and the ABC, said reporting on criminal convictions was the media’s “fundamental right” and warned a non-publication order in such a “public” trial would undermine justice and cause concern for those following the proceedings.
Magistrate Clare Farnan said she believed the jurors’ potential prejudice could “be cured by appropriate jury directions” and ruled the conviction was in the public interest.
“The interests of the community in open justice is in my view not outweighed by Mr Maguire’s interests,” she said.
Maguire will be sentenced at a later date.
He was the Liberal member for Wagga Wagga from 1999 to July 2018 when he quit the party.
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