Premier's ex-partner spun 'deviated' yarn on $48m deal

Perth Now

24-06-2025

Former state MP Daryl Maguire created an inaccurate story about an expected cut from a multi-million property deal days before facing a corruption inquiry, a court has revealed.
The former member for Wagga Wagga, whose clandestine relationship with ex-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian led to her political downfall, gave his altered evidence during a NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing in July 2018.
After Maguire was found guilty on Friday of misleading ICAC, details about Magistrate Clare Farnan's verdict were released on Tuesday.
The Local Court judgment reveals that the ex-MP knew he would be asked about expected financial benefits but knowingly misled the corruption probe.
At ICAC, Maguire was questioned about what he expected to get out of the sale of an estimated $48 million property development in Campsie in Sydney's southwest.
ICAC grilled Maguire and others in 2018 under Operation Dasha, which probed allegations of corruption at the local Canterbury council.
At a criminal hearing earlier in 2025, crown prosecutors estimated that the former MP would have gained $720,000 from the deal had it gone through.
At ICAC, he initially denied expecting a cut but then changed his evidence after covertly recorded telephone conversations showed he wanted a financial benefit at the time.
Three days before being grilled at the corruption probe, he spoke to former Wagga Wagga City Council general manager Alan Eldridge about what he would say.
"I never asked for a dollar, they never offered a dollar nor would I take a dollar," he said.
Ms Farnan noted evidence he had never asked for money then "deviated" when faced with phone calls where he had.
This change in evidence was not done out of inadvertence, carelessness or a misunderstanding, the magistrate said.
Three days earlier, his mind had been focused on what he would say about the proposed property deal, she found.
"He clearly had a recollection of it. He had thought about it. He had developed a story about it that was not accurate," Ms Farnan said.
"I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Maguire gave the evidence I have found to be misleading knowing that it was misleading and not believing it to be true."
The Wagga Wagga MP resigned from the Berejiklian government after giving evidence, before succumbing to pressure and quitting parliament altogether.
ICAC opened a further probe into Maguire, exposing his secret romantic relationship with Ms Berejiklian in 2020.
She also stood down from her role and was later found by ICAC to have breached public trust in failing to disclose the relationship, spanning at least five years while she was transport minister, treasurer and then premier.