![]() In October 2021, the ICAC announced it had broadened its investigation to include allegations Berejiklian breached the public’s trust in the course of her secret relationship with Maguire. ![]() Whether Berejiklian is innocent or not, the real issue is the PM’s arrogance Read More But behind the scenes, investigators continued to piece together the puzzle. The famously secretive ICAC said nothing about the new questions raised in the media. ![]() Information about the ACTA grant had been buried in the ICAC evidence made public as part of the public hearings in October 2020. In early December, ABC’s 7.30 program revealed Berejiklian oversaw a fund that reserved $5.5 million in grant funding for the Australian Clay Target Association (ACTA) in Wagga, which Maguire later attempted to profit from. However, by Christmas 2020, it had become clear Berejiklian’s involvement in Maguire’s scandal may deserve greater scrutiny. “I think she’ll be the premier next week, I think she’ll be the premier next month, I think she’ll be the premier that leads the government to the next election, and I think she’ll keep leading NSW for many, many years to come,” then-tourism minister Stuart Ayres said in October 2020. The fact the person who held the state’s top political job, and previously held the purse strings as state treasurer, was in a secret relationship with an MP who had been forced to quit Parliament in 2018 over corruption allegations set off a political firestorm.īut the popular career politician from Sydney’s northern suburbs managed to survive several motions of no confidence in Parliament, and looked set to continue leading the state. The revelation from Berejiklian - a notoriously private person who had never shared much of her personal life with her colleagues - shocked the other Liberals in state Parliament. And that, and that, and that developed into a close personal relationship,” she continued. He was a trusted…” Berejiklian began replying, before being urged to answer the question more directly. “Yeah, I would like to state at the outset that Mr Maguire was a colleague of 15 years. “Ms Berejiklian, have you ever been in a close personal relationship with Mr Maguire?” counsel assisting the ICAC Scott Robertson asked. But a question in the first few minutes of her appearance changed her political career forever and raised uncomfortable questions that would eventually set her on the path of being a target of ICAC herself. Neither was Berejiklian when she first took the stand. Most witnesses, including politicians, who are called before the corruption commission are not suspected of any wrongdoing. ![]() Giving evidence to ICAC is not in itself controversial. What the investigators did not expect was to discover Maguire had been leading a long and secret relationship with the state’s most powerful person.īerejiklian was dragged into the scandal in October 2020, when she was added to a witness list and asked to give evidence at a public hearing. When they began that probe - tapping Maguire’s phone and dispatching undercover agents to photograph him in NSW Parliament - they were following leads that suggested he had tried to use his political office for personal monetary gain. ICAC’s Berejiklian probe isn’t over just because her ex-boyfriend has been charged Read MoreĪfter the ICAC investigators heard Maguire speaking on a tapped phone in May and June 2016 about his plans to broker a land sale as a representative of a private company, they trained their focus on him and opened a new investigation, known as Operation Keppel. ![]()
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