Ex-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian acted corruptly while in a five-year relationship with a Liberal MP trying to advance his financial interests, but will not face criminal charges.
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That's the key finding of the NSW corruption watchdog, which investigated whether Ms Berejiklian breached the public trust by failing to disclose her personal relationship with Daryl 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, and whether she turned a blind eye to allegedly corrupt conduct by the former MP for Wagga.
Operation Keppel began as a probe into Maguire but was expanded to the coalition premier after she was compelled to reveal the relationship in public hearings in 2020.
She had denied any wrongdoing, telling the Independent Commission Against Corruption that the romance, which began in 2015, had ended.
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She resigned as premier in October 2021 when she officially became part of the investigation.
ICAC found both Ms Berejiklian and Maguire had engaged in serious corrupt conduct.
Ms Berejiklian breached the public trust in 2016 and 2017 in relation to funding promised 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.
Ms Berejiklian, 52, again engaged in serious corrupt conduct in relation to the Riverina Conservatorium of Music, another project advanced by Maguire, ICAC said.
She had taken part in a 2018 cabinet committee about the conservatorium and later determined to make a funding reservation of $20 million, without disclosing her "close personal relationship" with Maguire.
But ICAC will not refer her to the Director of Public Prosecutions for possible criminal charges, saying her conduct was not so serious as to merit criminal punishment.
Ex-Liberal treasurer Matt Kean slammed ICAC for making a finding of corrupt conduct and then effectively admitting it had no evidence for charges to be laid.
"So it has taken ICAC two years to tell us that Gladys Berejiklian has not broken the law," he posted on social media after the report was published.
Labor Premier Chris Minns said the finding did not take away from Ms Berejiklian's handling of the coronavirus pandemic in NSW from 2020, which was "excellent".
"It is important, however, for all politicians in New South Wales and anyone in public life or positions of leadership to understand we must manage conflicts of interest and declare them," he said.
The report made 18 recommendations including amending the code of conduct for MPs on the limited circumstances in which it is acceptable to intermingle parliamentary duties with personal or private activities.
After quitting office, Ms Berejiklian turned down an opportunity to run for federal parliament before moving into the private sector as an Optus executive.
ICAC did refer Maguire for possible misconduct in public office charges, after numerous findings that he also engaged in serious misconduct between 2012 and 2018 and improperly used his office as an MP.
Maguire, 64, is already facing criminal charges stemming from conduct exposed at an earlier ICAC inquiry, including for giving false and misleading evidence to that inquiry.
Australian Associated Press
