11 hours ago
Former MP Daryl Maguire found guilty of giving false or misleading evidence at ICAC
Former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire has been found guilty of giving false or misleading evidence to the NSW corruption watchdog at a hearing in 2018, as it investigated the former Canterbury City Council.
Maguire had denied wrongdoing, but prosecutors argued the former member for Wagga Wagga engaged in a "money making exercise" when he allegedly discussed a commission with a local councillor over a multimillion-dollar property deal.
He appeared as a witness in Operation Dasha, the Independent Commission Against Corruption's (ICAC) investigation into allegations of corruption against councillors and whether they dishonestly exercised their official functions in relation to planning proposals.
During his appearance at the public hearing, Maguire initially denied ever doing business with former councillor Michael Hawatt, or seeking payment for brokering a deal on behalf of a Chinese property developer.
Magistrate Clare Farnan on Friday found him guilty of the single charge, following a hearing in the Local Court earlier this year.
That outcome was delivered after apparent confusion about listing locations caused the parties to appear before a registrar in a different courtroom, who adjourned the case until September.
The Downing Centre's lower level suffered flood damage due to a burst water main on Tuesday, and will remain shut for four weeks on the latest estimates.
As a result, dozens of cases have had to be relocated to the nearby John Maddison Tower, including Mr Maguire's matter.
When Magistrate Farnan delivered her decision, no media were in the courtroom, and Maguire's barrister Rebecca Gall applied for a non-publication order on the grounds of potential prejudice to a separate upcoming trial.
Later in the afternoon, the magistrate put on the record that she had come into court in the morning expecting to deliver judgment.
The magistrate said there was nothing "deliberate" about what occurred, and she had gone to "all the trouble I could" to have parties notified yesterday of the impending decision.
She denied the application for a non-publication order, after hearing submissions from barrister Dauid Sibtain SC, representing the ABC and Fairfax.
Magistrate Farnan said the case had already been the subject of media attention, and the interest of the community in open justice outweighed Mr Maguire's interests in the circumstances.
At a hearing in late May, the court was told of intercepted phone calls between Maguire and Mr Hawatt in which the pair discussed the sale of a property on Canterbury Road at Campsie, in Sydney's inner south west.
Maguire was recorded saying: "What have you got on your books? What is DA approved?".
The pair then discussed the sale of the site of the former Harrison's Hardware store on Canterbury Road, for which a 300 unit development was proposed.
Maguire and Mr Hawatt estimated the development to be worth up to $48 million, with Maguire asking: "What's the margin for you?".
The court heard Mr Hawatt suggested a margin of between 1.5 and 2 per cent was likely, to which Mr Maguire replied: "1.5 per cent isn't enough divided by two, if you know what I mean."
Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor Phil Hogan argued the two were expecting to make money from the sale and that it would be divided equally between them.
"The story that he'd prepared [for the ICAC] was, 'I'd never asked for a dollar, they never offered a dollar, nor would I ask for a dollar,'" Mr Hogan told the court.
"The Crown says that statement is demonstrably misleading."
Mr Hogan argued the communications between Maguire and Mr Hawatt amounted to an attempt to do business with the expectation they would both make money from that business.
