Gladys Berejiklian has lost a high-stakes court bid to overturn findings she acted corruptly in a major blow to the former premier's reputation and win for the NSW integrity watchdog.
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The state's top civil court delivered its decision on Friday, ruling the Independent Commission Against Corruption did not act outside its legal remit when it handed down the damning findings against the ex-Liberal leader.
ICAC found Ms Berejiklian engaged in "serious corrupt conduct" by breaching public trust through her clandestine relationship with disgraced party colleague Daryl Maguire.
The former premier was also ordered by the court to pay the corruption watchdog's legal costs following her appeal loss.
Ms Berejiklian's case was dismissed by two of the three Court of Appeal judges, with one dissenting on the question of whether Ruth McColl, who was appointed assistant commissioner to help with the inquiry, had authority to prepare the ICAC report.
While Ms McColl's appointment as assistant commissioner expired in October 2022, she was kept on as a consultant for a further eight months before the report was published.
But all three of the judges agreed Ms Berejiklian was aware of her obligation to disclose conflicts of interest and chose not to do so.
"There was evidence that Mr Maguire pressed the applicant to exercise her public functions in particular ways to support his causes and that the applicant responded accordingly," they said.
"Mr Maguire had direct, immediate and informal means of communicating with the applicant and did so without any suggestion that there was some 'boundary' between their personal or private lives."
ICAC deemed Berejiklian''s corrupt conduct included her sitting on a cabinet committee tasked with considering millions of dollars worth of funding arrangements pushed by Maguire for his Wagga Wagga electorate.
Ms Berejiklian's barrister Bret Walker SC had argued the personal relationships of ministers did not automatically equate to corruption.
But ICAC barrister Stephen Free SC argued there was a rational foundation for finding Ms Berejiklian had been influenced by her desire to maintain or advance her relationship with Maguire.
Between 2016 and 2018, as treasurer and then premier, Ms Berejiklian was involved in approving or supporting allocations of $5.5 million for the Wagga-based Australian Clay Target Association and $10 million for the Riverina Conservatorium of Music.
ICAC said her deliberate failure to disclose the relationship in those circumstances was "wilful" and unjustified, and warranted a corruption finding.
Mr Walker labelled those findings "illogical" as the watchdog had also deemed there was insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.
But the appeal judges rejected that argument, noting that different rules of evidence and standards of proof applied before ICAC and criminal courts and there was nothing irrational about the corruption finding.
Ms Berejiklian stood down as premier in 2021 at the start of ICAC's investigation, later walking away from politics to pursue an executive role with telecommunications giant Optus.
She has consistently rejected the ICAC findings, arguing she has always worked her hardest in the public interest.
Australian Associated Press
