Disgraced ex-MP Daryl Maguire erupts at Channel Nine reporter after explosive cellphone calls had been heard in court docket

Daryl Maguire has lashed out at reporter after a court heard he allegedly expected a cut of a $48 million property deal he helped broker for a Chinese-based ‘client’ and later made misleading comments about his aims to a corruption watchdog.

The former state MP for Wagga Wagga – whose clandestine relationship with ex-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian helped lead to her political downfall in 2021 – has pleaded not guilty to one charge of giving misleading evidence to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Prosecutors allege Maguire gave the evidence at an ICAC hearing in July 2018 about what he expected to get out of the sale of a development in Sydney‘s south-west.

Maguire appeared to be in good spirits as he addressed the media after he arrived at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Monday for the start of the three day hearing.

‘Want to gather around?’ he asked the media scrum.

‘Good morning. Thanks for coming. Good to see you all!’

But after a day of hearing evidence against him, Maguire wasn’t happy to be bombarded with questions by reporters as he left court.

‘I said before, I wasn’t going to answer any questions as the matter before the court,’ he told Channel Nine reporter Annalise Bolt.

‘You should know better!’ 

Bolt pressed on.

‘Are those phone taps causing headaches before the court?’ she asked.

Maguire snapped back: ‘Are you just stupid or are you listening?

‘The matter cannot be talked about it as it is before the court.

‘Don’t ask dumb questions!’

Maguire’s outburst came after a covertly recorded phone call between he and then-Canterbury councillor Michael Hawatt from May 2016 was played to the court.

Maguire could be heard telling Hawatt he had a buyer interested in major residential developments, which the court heard was a Chinese-owned company, Country Garden.

‘Can you do me a favour? I need a few things to feed my friends,’ the Liberal politician said in the call.

‘What have you got on your books? Have you got anything DA-approved?’

The pair then discussed a particular development in Campsie about which Maguire asked: ‘What’s the margin in it for you?’

The development involved 300 units priced at up to $160,000 each, the court heard, which the pair calculated equalled a total sale of $48 million.

Hawatt said he expected to receive up to two per cent of the proceeds for selling the units on behalf of property developer Charbel Demian.

‘That’s alright. That’s better than nothing,’ Maguire said in the call.

‘It’s a quick f***ing sale. My client is mega big and has got mega money.’

Hawatt then suggested the commission might be as high as three per cent, an amount Maguire urged him to pursue.

‘One-point-five per cent isn’t enough divided by two, if you know what I’m talking about,’ Maguire said.

In another call between the men on the same day, Maguire said to Hawatt: ‘This will be very worthwhile for us but he’s got to do three per cent.’

Prosecutors allege these statements were evidence Maguire was expecting to be paid and his later denials to ICAC were misleading enough to have a material impact on its investigation.

‘The evidence demonstrates that Mr Maguire believed that he and Mr Hawatt would share a commission if they identified property that could be purchased by Country Garden,’ prosecutor Phil Hogan told the court.

The call was recorded by ICAC under Operation Dasha, which probed allegations of corruption at the local council and whether then-councillors dishonestly exercised their official functions over planning proposals and applications.

On Monday, the court was also played Maguire’s evidence to ICAC in which he denied entering into any business arrangements with Hawatt and described only having discussions of a ‘general nature’ about property.

After being played a recording of the phone calls between him and Hawatt, Maguire said he couldn’t recall exactly but it appeared he was expecting to receive some sort of payment in the deal.

‘It appears that I am talking about a dividend,’ he told the inquiry at the time.

‘A dividend to be shared by two. You’d have to assume at that, an interested party, an interested person. I suspect it was me.’

Maguire resigned from NSW parliament in 2018 after a separate ICAC investigation, which also led to his secret romantic relationship with Ms Berejiklian coming to light.

She also stood down from her role and was later found by ICAC to have breached public trust in failing to disclose the relationship.

Hawatt and Demian are also facing allegations of misleading ICAC and remain before the courts having both pleaded not guilty.

The hearing continue will continue on Tuesday.