NSW ex-MP Daryl Maguire found guilty of misleading corruption inquiry over $48 million land deal, faces jail and visa fraud trial

Former New South Wales MP Daryl Maguire has been found guilty of misleading the state’s anti-corruption watchdog during a 2018 investigation into a $48 million property development deal. The verdict was delivered by Magistrate Clare Farnan at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Friday(June 20), following years of legal and political fallout stemming from the inquiry.

Maguire, who represented the electorate of Wagga Wagga for nearly two decades, denied having any financial interest in the sale of land in Campsie, in Sydney’s southwest. He resigned from Parliament in 2018 shortly after the initial ICAC revelations and now faces a potential prison sentence of up to two years. He is also facing separate criminal proceedings over an alleged visa fraud scheme, with further court appearances expected later this year.

In a brief statement earlier this year, Maguire said he intended to “fight to clear his name,” though Friday’s ruling has dramatically narrowed that path.


However, during hearings held by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), intercepted phone calls revealed he had actively sought commissions from the deal and stood to benefit significantly.

The findings

The court found that Maguire had knowingly given false evidence to ICAC in July 2018, contradicting his sworn statements under oath. Farnan said Maguire’s attempt to suppress the publication of the guilty verdict was outweighed by the public’s right to open justice. “The interests of the community in open justice are, in my view, not outweighed by Mr Maguire's interests,” she ruled.

Maguire’s legal team’s response

Maguire’s legal team had argued that he had simply misunderstood the questions posed during the inquiry, but prosecutors pointed to clear discrepancies between his testimony and his own words in phone recordings. In one conversation, he asked a local councillor to push for a better commission on his behalf, stating, “I need to feed my friends.”

The conviction is the latest development in a long-running scandal that also led to the political downfall of former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

In 2020, ICAC revealed that Maguire had been in a secret five-year romantic relationship with Berejiklian while she was in senior cabinet positions. ICAC later found that Berejiklian had breached public trust by failing to disclose the relationship, prompting her resignation.