"I knew nothing" of alleged Wagga MP Daryl Maguire corruption, Gladys Berejiklian tells ICAC

Ms Berejiklian appeared for the second time as a witness on Monday at the Independent Commission Against Corruption's public hearings.

ICAC is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian breached public trust by having a conflict of interest in millions of dollars in grants awarded to Wagga during the relationship and whether she should have reported Mr Maguire to ICAC over reasonable suspicion of corrupt conduct.

Ms Berejiklian told ICAC on Monday that she had no grounds to report Mr Maguire when he told her about his plan to earn $1.5 million from a Western Sydney land deal, when he told her in 2018 that he was due to appear at ICAC, or after his first ICAC appearance that eventually forced him to resign as an MP.

"I don't know what I would have reported. He told me he did nothing wrong. He told me his association with these people [Sydney property developers] was limited and I believed him," Ms Berejiklian said.

"And then clearly on the 13th of July that wasn't the case but I didn't assume he did anything wrong, I didn't feel there was anything I could add.

"I didn't feel there was anything to report."

Mr Maguire appeared before a separate ICAC inquiry called Operation Dasha on July 13, 2018 that was established to investigate Canterbury councillors.

ICAC has heard intercepted phone calls between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire prior to that hearing in which she told him the property developers he had met were "dodgy".

The 2018 ICAC hearing was played intercepted phone calls of Mr Maguire asking a Canterbury councillor to nominate projects they could sell to Chinese investors in return for a commission.

Ms Berejiklian said she was away from work that day and was advised of Mr Maguire's evidence at ICAC's Operation Dasha hearing by acting chief of staff Brad Burden.

"I was absolutely overwhelmed with the shock and grief of what had transpired in the hearing as he had told me definitively that there was nothing to worry about, that he had done nothing wrong, yet that is not what transpired in terms of evidence," she said.

"I was confused but on that day I knew something was awry, I just didn't know what."

Ms Berejiklian told ICAC on Monday that in the days following Mr Maguire's 2018 ICAC appearance she decided to give him the "benefit of the doubt and presumption of innocence".

Counsel assisting ICAC Scott Robertson asked Ms Berejiklian if, as of the hearing on July 13, 2018 she suspected Mr Maguire had engaged in corrupt conduct.

"I didn't," Ms Berejiklian said.

"I assumed that anything he was caught up in was, on his part, was unintentional, that he wasn't aware of everything around him and also assumed [ICAC] would come to a conclusion as to whether or not he engaged in corrupt conduct."

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Hugh White, the barrister acting for Ms Berejiklian's former chief of staff, Sarah Cruickshank, cross-examined Ms Berejiklian about Ms Cruickshank's prior testimony.

Mr White asked Ms Berejiklian if she denied telling Ms Cruickshank on July 13, 2018 that the Maguire relationship was "historical" and had ended before she became premier.

Ms Berejiklian said people can have their own recollections of conversations.

"I don't dispute her version, in the way I hope people don't dispute my version," Ms Berejiklian said.

Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire were released from their summons to appear at ICAC as it was the last day of the current hearings.

The hearings were adjourned indefinitely given the potential for another hearing related to evidence given in private around Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire's relationship.

Witnesses will be invited to make written submissions to the inquiry for its report.

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