Icac inquiry live updates: Maguire told property developer he would deliver letter to Berejiklian

9.25pm EDT 21:25

For the second time today, Maguire agrees he was a “door opener” to pubic officials. This time, in relation to the Waterhouse deal.

Robertson shows Maguire a message he sent to Waterhouse in which he tells her that he has spoken to Roads Minister Melinda Pavey. This was in relation to the relocation of an intersection, which Waterhouse was seeking.

We’ve previously heard Maguire and Waterhouse met with one of Pavey’s staff members.The staffer came away from the meeting slightly bemused by the interaction, and the intersection was never moved.

Updated at 9.26pm EDT

9.20pm EDT 21:20

Robertson probes Maguire on his relationship with Country Garden, the Chinese development company which owns large tracts of land surrounding the western Sydney airport zone.

Robertson:

You sought to get them involved in a number of projects including the Smart.West project?

Maguire:

I can’t remember whether it was me or Mr Luong [the agent who was helping find a buyer or investor for Waterhouse] who got them involved.

Robertson:

Did you provide any assistance to Country Garden in obtaining relationships or trying to build relationships with any government officials?

Maguire:

Um, my recollection says there was a lunch held at some point with the new managing director of Country Garden at their request.

Robertson now takes Maguire to a ministerial diary showing a meeting between Maguire, Country Garden, and the planning minister. Maguire agrees he arranged that meeting, saying it was a “general meet and greet”.

Maguire:

Nothing specific was spoken about but Country Garden wanted to make an impression … they wanted to pay their respects to the minister.

Robertson asks Maguire whether he was ever consider or hoping to have a consultant role or any other job with Country Garden “during or post” his political career.

Maguire:

It was touched on at some point.

Robertson:

And was that a factor you took into account when doing things like setting up [the meeting with the minister]?

Maguire:

Updated at 9.21pm EDT

9.02pm EDT 21:02

Robertson again asks Maguire whether he thought he would receive a “substantial commission or other payment arising from the sale of the Smart.West land or part of that land”.

Maguire:

At some point it was suggested to me.

Not by Waterhouse, he clarifies, but one of the agents he arranged for her to deal with.

Maguire though is insisting he was not motivated primarily or solely by money, and that he was concerned about issues faced by residents in Western Sydney.

McColl interjects:

Why, Mr Maguire, you’re the member for Wagga.

She asks why he didn’t just introduce Waterhouse to the local MP. He says he did, but eventually concedes that his involvement had nothing to do with his role as either an MP or parliamentary secretary.

Updated at 9.02pm EDT

8.55pm EDT 20:55

And we’re back. Robertson is still pushing Maguire on his business relationship with Louise Waterhouse.

Robertson points Maguire to an appointment for 26 April, 2017, eight days after he emailed Waterhouse about discussing the Badgerys Creek development.

The meeting included Waterhouse and three other individuals. Robertson asks whether those three people, including at least two people who Maguire had existing business relationships, were “potential participants” in Waterhouse’s Smart.West development.

Yes, Maguire agrees, “or sources of advice”.

Robertson puts it to Maguire that he hoped “one of these individuals might be able to assist Ms Waterhouse making some money and you sharing some of those profits with whoever might be assisting”.

Maguire:

8.42pm EDT 20:42

We’ve just taken a short break.

Before that, Robertson was pushing Maguire on what was driving him to make these deals while still in parliament. We’ve previously heard the former MP was in debt to the tune about about $1.5m. He tells Icac he had made up his mind to retire before the next election, and “would have retired regardless of my financial position”.

He wanted to be in a position to “engage in work once I retired”.

Robertson puts it to him that his reason for engaging with Waterhouse was an ambition to wipe off some of that debt before announcing his retirement – something we’ve heard previously during phone intercepts between he and Berejiklian.

Maguire:

Not entirely, but I’ll agree.

8.27pm EDT 20:27

We’re hearing about those early conversations between Maguire and Louise Waterhouse. After he returned from a trip to the South Pacific he emailed Waterhouse to suggest a meeting to discuss “the other matter we discussed”.

That other matter, he says, was her Smart.West development in Badgerys Creek.

After some back and forth about why the Wagga Wagga MP would care about a property development in Western Sydney, Maguire says that Waterhouse “wanted to find some partners or businesses that might join with her” to get her development across the line.

Robertson puts it to Maguire that he hoped to find those investors and get paid a commission.

Maguire:

Certainly people who might invest.

Robertson pushes him further. He wanted to find investors specifically so that he could gain a commission or introductory fee “or other amount of money”.

Maguire:

8.10pm EDT 20:10

Robertson has been revisiting some evidence from yesterday, namely that Maguire, as the honorary chair of a Shenzen commerce group, took trips to the South Pacific in which, Icac alleges, he improperly presented himself as working on behalf of the government when in fact he was pursuing business interests.

Maguire admits he was a “door opener” for the Shenzen group, and was acting outside of his role as a public official.

We then hear about a meeting Maguire had on 5 April 2017 with Louise Waterhouse. Robertson puts it to Maguire that he was asking her “for her assistance in setting up meetings and things of that kind”.

Maguire says he wanted to brief Waterhouse about the Shenzen group.

Robertson then reads a snippet from an email Waterhouse sent to Maguire after the meeting in which she mentions their “confidential discussion” about an “exciting project” in Badgerys Creek.

Updated at 8.17pm EDT

7.58pm EDT 19:58

We’ve moved on to Maguire’s relationship with the racing heir Louise Waterhouse. We’ve previously heard that Maguire hoped to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars assisting her in the rezoning of land her family owns near the site of the proposed western Sydney airport.

Robertson:

Do you agree that you provided assistance to Ms Louise Waterhouse in relation the to propose sale or development of land … in Badgerys Creek?

Maguire:

Robertson asks Maguire how he met Waterhouse. He says it was “through the Tongan consulate”, where Waterhouse is honorary consul general.

Updated at 8.04pm EDT

7.53pm EDT 19:53

‘I’ll give it to her all right’ – Maguire tells property developer friend he’d deliver letter to Berejiklian

Robertson is taking Maguire through a series of favours Maguire did for the property developer Joe Alha.

The two were “great mates”, Maguire says, and had discussed the idea of working together when he left parliament. Robertson asks if that’s why Maguire worked so hard on Alha’s behalf arranging meetings. He puts it to Maguire that he was Alha’s “direct line to government”.

Maguire says he did not do it because he was hoping to seek employment with Alha.

We’re played a phone intercept in which Maguire is instructing an agitated Alha on how to deal with a development issue. He’s instructing him to “pour your heart out” in a letter to the planning minister, Anthony Roberts, and tells him to “CC the premier”, Gladys Berejiklian.

How do I get the email, Alha asks?

Maguire:

I’ll fix it. I’ll give it to her all right.

Maguire then says he can’t recall if he ever delivered the letter to the premier.

Before that we were played a phone intercept in which Alha tells Maguire he wants a meeting with the transport minister, Andrew Constance.

Alha:

I just want some clarity if they are moving the train station … I want some fucking straight answers.

Maguire:

I’ll go and have a chat.

We’re told the meeting never went ahead.

Updated at 8.03pm EDT

7.39pm EDT 19:39

Maguire assisted developers with view to making personal ‘profits’

Daryl Maguire admits he sought meetings for property developers with ministers or their staff with at least the hope of making profit for himself.

Scott Robertson puts it to Maguire that he essentially sought “short cuts” for developers by making representations on their behalf to ministers.

Maguire says he has “assisted a number of developers”.

Robertson then goes further. He puts it to Maguire that he did this “in the hope that ultimately there might be some profits flowing to you”.

Maguire:

Robertson:

It was at least a factor that weighed on your mind.

Maguire:

Robertson:

Maguire:

Robertson:

Not just could have been, it was, do you agree?

Maguire:

Updated at 7.57pm EDT

7.30pm EDT 19:30

Back to that drop-in meeting that Daryl Maguire orchestrated between the developer Joe Alha and Gladys Berejiklian.

Scott Robertson wants to know whether there was any “discussion of matters in relation to planning in a general policy sense or in a site-specific sense”.

Maguire is insistent it was nothing more than “general niceties”.

He says it’s the only time he recalls taking a property developer for a drop-in meeting with the premier or a minister.

Updated at 7.56pm EDT

7.27pm EDT 19:27

The fundraiser also featured the treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, as well as the premier.

Maguire tells Robertson he would have “perhaps” have charged about $1,000 for a ticket.

Updated at 7.56pm EDT

7.25pm EDT 19:25

Robertson is asking Maguire about an invitation for fundraiser that he sent to Berejiklian on 28 June 2017. The invitation was apparently accepted and scheduled for 12 December 2017.

The invitation list included a number of people linked to Maguire, including the racing heir Louise Waterhouse and the chief executive of the developer Country Garden. But Maguire says neither of them attended.

Updated at 7.55pm EDT

7.21pm EDT 19:21

Maguire says the drop-in meeting with Berejiklian would have lasted “two minutes”.

“I asked, ‘Can we pop in?’ Would have taken less than two minutes then we left,” he says.

Robertson wants to know how he got in.

Maguire:

I don’t recall if there was a personal assistant, a receptionist there, there may have been, I would have asked, I wouldn’t have just walked in … I can’t recall exactly what was said.

He says Alha had already met Berejiklian. Asked by the assistant commissioner, Ruth McColl, why he was so insistent on meeting her again, Maguire says the developer “adores her”:

My recollection is we were there for probably less than two minutes, niceties were spoken, the premier knew Mr Alha from various functions and things that occurred.

Updated at 7.55pm EDT

7.15pm EDT 19:15

Maguire arranged ‘drop-in’ meeting with Berejiklian for property developer

Robertson is pushing Maguire on the fact that Alha had previously requested a “site-specific” meeting with Berejiklian. The premier had refused the meeting.

He’s pushing the former MP on the idea that this “drop-in” meeting with Berejiklian had been the plan all along, and was a way to “skirt around ordinary processes”.

Maguire:

I wouldn’t put it that way but because of Mr [Frank] Vellar’s willingness to meet I thought that would suffice.

Robertson:

Mr Alha was quite insistent in the lead-up to the meeting … he wanted [a meeting] not just with the minister for planning but the premier as well, is that right?

Maguire:

Robertson:

When you were contemplating the meeting with Mr Alha you were contemplating … a drop-in meeting with the premier?

Maguire:

It might have crossed my mind.

Updated at 7.53pm EDT

7.11pm EDT 19:11

We begin by hearing evidence of a “drop-in” meeting between Maguire’s Sydney property developer friend Joe Alha and the premier, Gladys Berejiklian.

Maguire, we heard yesterday, had arranged a meeting between Alha and a staff member of the former planning minister Anthony Roberts.

We now hear that after that meeting, Alha and Maguire had “a glass or two of red wine”.

Robertson:

Maguire:

Joe wanted to meet the premier, [he said] can we go and see Gladys, can we go and see Gladys? Yes, we’d had a couple of drinks. We were on the 12th floor and the premier is the eighth so I said we’ll go and see, we’ll do a drop-in … Joe became a little bit insistent that we drop in and see Glad.

Updated at 7.38pm EDT

7.07pm EDT 19:07

Daryl Maguire is back in the stand. Counsel assisting the commission Scott Robertson begins by telling the commissioner Ruth McColl SC that he is unlikely to finish questioning Maguire today. So, it looks as though we’ll be back tomorrow.

Updated at 7.37pm EDT

7.03pm EDT 19:03

While we wait for Maguire to appear in the stand, here’s my wrap of yesterday’s hearing. For five hours, counsel assisting Scott Robertson pushed and prodded Maguire over a series of business deals between 2012 and 2018. The former MP often gave short, perfunctory answers, which could amount to damaging admissions.

Updated at 7.05pm EDT