Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian fails to overturn ICAC's serious corruption conduct finding

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has failed to overturn the finding that she engaged in serious corrupt conduct.

Transcript

00:00The mere announcement of the corruption investigation into Gladys Berejiklian was enough to sink

00:06the popular Premier in 2021.

00:09My resignation as Premier could not occur at a worse time.

00:12It would be another 18 months before the ICAC branded her seriously corrupt.

00:17The watchdog found she breached the public's trust by using her position as Treasurer and

00:22Premier to allocate funds for projects in the electorate of Wagga Wagga MP Darryl Maguire

00:27without disclosing that he was her boyfriend.

00:30In her dissenting judgment, Justice Julie Ward said the Commission impermissibly delegated

00:35that task to a consultant and held the report was beyond power.

00:39But Chief Justice Andrew Bell and Justice Anthony Maher found Ms McColl's appointment

00:44was valid and effective and that accepting Ms Berejiklian's argument would impose an

00:49unwarranted limit upon the Commission's ongoing access to assistance.

00:53By law, the merits of ICAC findings cannot be reviewed, meaning the evidence originally

00:58before the Commission could not be reconsidered.

01:01The Court of Appeal was limited to deciding whether the findings were made lawfully.

01:05In a statement, Ms Berejiklian thanked the Court, given the limited nature of a challenge

01:10that can be made to ICAC findings by any citizen.

01:13The former Premier has been ordered to pay the corruption watchdog's legal costs.