Former NSW premier Berejiklian acted corruptly, ICAC finds

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Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian acted corruptly while in a five-year relationship with a disgraced Liberal MP, the NSW corruption watchdog has found.

The findings of a long-awaited NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation into the ex-MP for Wagga Wagga Daryl Maguire and Berejiklian, dubbed Operation Keppel, were released on Thursday.

ICAC found Berejiklian “engaged in serious corrupt conduct by breaching public trust in 2016 and 2017 through exercising her official functions in relation to funding promised and/or awarded” to the Wagga Wagga-based Australian Clay Target Association.

“(She did so) without disclosing her close personal relationship with Mr Maguire, when she was in a position of a conflict of interest between her public duty and her private interest, which could objectively have the potential to influence the performance of her public duty,” ICAC found.

ICAC had investigated whether Berejiklian breached the public trust by failing to disclose her long-time personal relationship with Maguire when she was treasurer and later premier.

At issue was whether she had exercised her public functions when there was a perceived conflict of interest in her private life because the relationship was kept secret, and whether she turned a blind eye to allegedly corrupt conduct by Maguire.

The commission inquiry began as a probe into possible corrupt conduct by Maguire but expanded to the coalition premier after she was compelled to reveal the relationship in public hearings in 2020.

She denied any wrongdoing saying the romance had ended and retained her office, only to step down as premier when ICAC in October 2021 began investigating her conduct.

Even after the relationship was exposed, Berejiklian held onto widespread public support, with net approval ratings of more than 35%.

After quitting office, she turned down an opportunity to run for federal parliament and moved into the private sector as an Optus executive.

The Minns Labor government on Wednesday backed a parliamentary committee’s call for ICAC to develop its own time standards and measure its performance against them.

“(The changes) will increase transparency and public accountability of the ICAC’s reporting functions without imposing inflexible restrictions on the ICAC,” the government said.

Delays in the release of the ICAC report into Berejiklian and Maguire have been criticised.

The commission has said delays were caused by complex legal issues and copious submissions.

Maguire, 64, is facing criminal charges stemming from conduct exposed at an earlier ICAC inquiry and giving false and misleading evidence into that inquiry.