Former NSW premier Mike Baird will be among the first witnesses to give evidence in a corruption inquiry investigating the conduct of former premier Gladys Berejiklian during her secret relationship with disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire.
Mr Baird was named in a witness list released by the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Wednesday, ahead of the public inquiry into Ms Berejiklian commencing on Monday. He is scheduled to front the commission on Wednesday.
Gladys Berejiklian and Mike Baird in 2010. Credit:Marco Del Grande
Newly minted deputy leader of the Liberal Party and Jobs Minister Stuart Ayres is also due to appear as a witness on Friday.
The ICAC recently named Ms Berejiklian as the focus of an extended corruption inquiry, examining whether she breached the public trust or encouraged corrupt conduct during the five-year relationship with Mr Maguire.
An ICAC statement announcing the probe earlier this month prompted Ms Berejiklian’s snap resignation as premier. She will also resign from parliament, triggering a future byelection in her lower north shore seat of Willoughby.
The corruption inquiry follows four weeks of public hearings last year, which revealed the secret relationship amid allegations Mr Maguire allegedly used his position in Parliament to further his business dealings.
The focus of the latest public inquiry, due to start on Monday, is more than $30 million in state government grants that were issued to Mr Maguire’s electorate while Ms Berejiklian was treasurer.
They include a $5.5 million grant issued to the Australian Clay Target Association in 2016-17 and a $30 million hand-out to the Riverina Conservatorium of Music in Wagga Wagga in 2018.
The commission is investigating if Ms Berejiklian breached public trust in circumstances where she was in a position of conflict between her public duties and her private interest in connection with the grants.
Mike Baird called to give evidence at the ICAC inquiry into Gladys Berejiklian
Source: Philippines Alive
