By Jamie McKinnell, ABC News
Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian. Photo: AFP / JAMES GOURLEY
Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has failed to overturn a finding of serious corrupt conduct against her, after challenging a report by the corruption watchdog in the state's highest civil court.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) released its report last June after hearing evidence about a secret relationship between Berejiklian and former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire.
It did not recommend criminal charges be pursued against Berejiklian, but made findings of serious corrupt conduct against the pair.
The ICAC found the former premier breached public trust in 2016, 2017 and 2018 during the relationship by exercising official functions about grant funding for two projects in the Wagga Wagga electorate; the Australian Clay Target Association and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music.
In a civil case challenging the findings and validity of the report, Berejiklian's lawyers argued the watchdog made several errors of jurisdiction and law, and questioned whether there was enough evidence to support them.
Today, the Court of Appeal dismissed the case with costs, in a split 2-1 decision.
Berejiklian has previously insisted she always acted in the public interest and told the ICAC she didn't think the relationship was of sufficient status to warrant declaring it.
McGuire a 'special kind of serial pest', court heard
During a Court of Appeal hearing in February, Berejiklian's legal team suggested the ICAC report may have been delivered outside its legal authority due to issues around the expiration of Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl's term overseeing the probe.
The appeal was heard by NSW Chief Justice Andrew Bell, the President of the Court of Appeal Justice Julie Ward, and Justice Anthony Meagher.
In handing down the 343-paragraph judgment, Justice Bell said both he and Justice Meagher would dismiss the Berejiklian's summons with costs.
But he said Justice Ward took a different view in respect to the first ground of appeal, which centred on the role of Assistant Commissioner McColl in the preparation of the report.
Bret Walker SC also told the February appeal hearing there was no evidence, apart from the "pseudo evidence" of rejected denials, that an attachment to Maguire played any role in Ms Berejiklian's decision making.
Barrister Stephen Free SC, representing ICAC, said it was open to the watchdog's chief commissioner to have Assistant Commissioner McColl assist in the preparation of the report and the chief commissioner was satisfied it was appropriate to rely on her assessments of credibility.
Berejiklian's lawyers highlighted Maguire's reputation as a "serial pest" in lobbying government members on behalf of his electorate.
The MP may have been a serial pest in lobbying, Free said, but when it came to Berejiklian he was "a special kind of serial pest" and took advantage of a particular emotional relationship.
"That was obviously in a radically different category from any other relationship between members of a government," he said.
Secretly recorded phone calls
The ICAC hearings featured a series of explosive tapped phone calls between the pair which revealed their private conversations, including about work issues.
Free took the Court of Appeal to several transcripts of those calls to demonstrate his emotional hold on her, arguing the calls were replete with references to what he wanted to achieve in his electorate.
Their relationship covered about five years from 2015, during Berejiklian's time as treasurer and then premier.
Berejiklian is not the first premier to challenge findings by the watchdog.
Former Liberal leader Nick Greiner, who fought for the establishment of ICAC, was brought down by it in 1992 when he was found "technically corrupt" for misusing his position to secure independent MP Terry Metherell's resignation from state parliament.
Greiner argued the "jobs for the boys" scandal was "politics" not corruption and was later cleared of wrongdoing by the Court of Appeal.
But the damage was already done and he was forced to resign.
- ABC
