Former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire has been handed a 10-month jail sentence for giving misleading evidence to the NSW corruption watchdog \u2014 but has been granted bail pending an appeal.<\/p>\n
Maguire was a witness at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in 2018 during an inquiry that focused on the former Canterbury City Council.<\/p>\n
The ex-member for Wagga Wagga was quizzed about whether he expected to benefit financially from a multi-million-dollar property deal.<\/p>\n
In the witness box, he initially denied ever doing business with former councillor Michael Hawatt or seeking payment for brokering a deal on behalf of a Chinese property developer, before intercepted phone calls between the pair were played to him.<\/p>\n
Maguire was found guilty in June, after Magistrate Clare Farnan found his initial assertions that there was nothing in the deal for him were “clearly misleading”.<\/p>\n
She said Maguire had given prior thought to what he was likely to be asked at the inquiry and essentially prepared a “broad-brush response” that took into account messages he had retrieved.<\/p>\n
Magistrate Farnan was satisfied, beyond reasonable doubt, that he gave the evidence in question “knowing that it was misleading, and not believing it to be true”.<\/p>\n
Today, she handed Maguire a sentence of 10 months with a non-parole period of five months.<\/p>\n
Maguire tried to ‘protect reputation’, magistrate says<\/p>\n
Magistrate Farnan said she could not be satisfied his motivation for giving the misleading evidence was an expectation of an ongoing financial benefit.<\/p>\n
There were “a number of possible motivations”, she said in sentencing, and there is no evidence about his reasons because Maguire pleaded not guilty and still denies the offence.<\/p>\n
“Mr Maguire was clearly trying to protect his reputation, possibly amongst other things,” she said.<\/p>\n
Magistrate Farnan said the community expected a politician who takes an oath or affirmation to give honest evidence, whatever the nature of the proceedings.<\/p>\n
“The community is entitled to expect that those who hold high public office will conduct themselves with integrity,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
she said.<\/p>\n
She accepted Maguire had been a “diligent” local member and had been committed to furthering the interests of his electorate, after taking into account character references.<\/p>\n
She considered the seriousness of the offence to be in the “middle of the range” and said Maguire, who was assessed as having “good” prospects of rehabilitation, did not maintain his position later during his appearance at the ICAC.<\/p>\n
‘Will of community to eradicate corruption’<\/p>\n
After the sentence was imposed, Maguire’s counsel Rebecca Gall said he would lodge an appeal and sought to be heard on a bail application pending that appeal.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Crown Prosecutor Phil Hogan pushed for Maguire to be sent to prison, saying only a full-time custodial sentence would achieve the goal of expressing “the will of the community \u2026 to eradicate corruption”.<\/p>\n
But Ms Gall said a sentence served in the community with a large community service element would “send an appropriately strong and public message”.<\/p>\n