Daryl Maguire admits he sought to use his status as a politician for his own financial gain

The former New South Wales Liberal party MP Daryl Maguire has admitted that he sought to “monetise” his parliamentary office and “use his status” as a politician for his own financial gain, during an appearance before the state’s anti-corruption watchdog.

The one-time Wagga Wagga MP and parliamentary secretary who resigned in disgrace in 2018 made a slew of jawdropping admissions as he appeared for the first of what is scheduled to be a two-day appearance before the Independent Commission against Corruption (Icac) on Wednesday.

The hearing had barely begun when the counsel assisting the commission, Scott Robertson, put to Maguire that between 2012 and 2018 the former MP had sought to “monetise” his position in the NSW parliament.

“What I’m suggesting is you sought to use your status … with a with a view to making money for yourself and making money for your associates?” Robertson asked.

“Yes,” Maguire responded.

Much of the lead up to Maguire’s long-awaited appearance before the Icac had been dominated by fallout from evidence from the NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, to the commission on Monday. The premier made the stunning admission that she had been in a “close personal relationship” with Maguire dating from about 2015 and only cut off contact with him in September of this year.

Phone intercepts played on Monday revealed Berejiklian had replied “I don’t need to know about that” when Maguire confided to her that he stood to make hundreds of thousands of dollars off a western Sydney land deal over which he had been lobbying her office.

But the premier has refused to resign. Instead, she has sought to frame her only mistake as a “personal one”, insisting “I haven’t done anything wrong”. On Wednesday, she angrily batted back a third day of questioning on the matter, telling reporters her “tolerance for answering questions which frankly are offensive” was waning.

Berejiklian also survived a no-confidence motion in the parliament’s upper house by a single vote on Wednesday after the chamber’s president, the Liberal party MP John Ajaka, ruled the casting vote in her favour.

But Maguire’s evidence has the potential to make or break Berejiklian’s political future. At least one MP who voted against the no-confidence motion, the independent Justin Field, said he had decided to “reserve judgement” until after Icac had time “to do its work and fully inform the public and political debate”.

The premier was barely mentioned during Maguire’s evidence on Wednesday, though. Instead, Robertson pushed and prodded the former MP on six years of business deals in which, the Icac alleges, Maguire improperly used his status as an MP for his own personal gain. Often he gave short, perfunctory answers, which could amount to damaging admissions.

During the hearing, Maguire admitted to receiving thousands of dollars in cash to his parliamentary office from a former business associate, Maggie Wang, in relation to a cash-for-visa scheme the two established.

Icac has alleged Maguire and Wang orchestrated an illegitimate migration scheme under which Australian employers could earn a subsidy for falsely employing Chinese nationals full-time so they could obtain a visa.

The two received a portion of the fee through a company that Maguire “effectively” controlled called G8Way International.

He couldn’t recall how many times the payments occurred.

Maguire had first argued that he believed the scheme to be legitimate, and told Icac that he had a “heated discussion” with Wang “about not breaking the rules”. But Maguire eventually admitted on Wednesday that he knew the scheme involved lying to immigration officials.

“And you decided to proceed anyway because there was potential money for you in the event that you continued to refer businesses into this immigration scheme. Do you agree?” Robertson put to Maguire.

“Yes,” he replied.

“You must agree that it was a breach of the public trust placed in you to proceed with this immigration scheme, correct?” Robertson asked.

“Yes,” he said again.

During the inquiry, Robertson also showed evidence that the same company, G8Way International, had in 2012 sent invoices to a Chinese company that listed a fee for “an introductory service”, after a function which included a meet-and-greet with the then premier-Barry O’Farrell. Maguire insisted he did not know why the invoice was sent, saying it was handled by his staff.

“I don’t know why that occurred. All I recall is that there was a big kerfuffle about getting paid and that an invoice had to be created,” he said.

As the hearing wound through a number of deals or attempted deals, the Icac commissioner, Ruth McColl SC, seemed at times bemused by Maguire’s explanations.

In one exchange, Maguire explained that he had become briefly involved in a potential property development in Sydney during a chance conversation with two real estate agents.

“We network, politicians network, that’s our lifeblood,” Maguire said.

“Yes but people don’t normally contact politicians if they want [a] purchaser or investor for a property,” she replied.

“Those things are sometimes raised,” he replied.

McColl said: “With politicians acting as an intermediary for a purchase of land in Australia?”

The inquiry continues.