Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has been unsuccessful in clearing her name of serious corruption findings in a decision handed down at the NSW Court of Appeal on Friday.
Chief Justice Andrew Bell delivered the decision which maintained findings that the former state Liberal leader had breached public trust through her covert romance with disgraced party colleague Daryl Maguire.
Berejiklian, who was not present on Friday for the decision, has since released a statement saying she “always worked her hardest to look after the welfare and interests of the people of NSW”.
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“Serving the people of NSW was an honour and privilege which I never took for granted,” she said.
She added she would like to thank the NSW Court of Appeal for “its consideration of these matters given the limited nature of a challenge that can be made to ICAC findings by any citizen”.
“As the Court noted, the ICAC Act does not permit a “merits” review of the findings of ICAC,” she said.
Her appeal was dismissed by a 2-1 majority.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption previously delivered a bombshell report in June 2023 that concluded Berejiklian engaged in “serious corrupt conduct” because of the undisclosed relationship.
ICAC deemed the corrupt conduct included her sitting on a cabinet committee tasked with considering millions of dollars worth of funding arrangements which Maguire was pushing for his Wagga Wagga electorate.
During Berejiklian’s NSW Court of Appeal bid, her barrister Bret Walker SC argued the personal relationships of ministers did not automatically equate to corruption.
“Our ministers are not members of enclosed religious orders,” he told three judges during hearings in February.
But ICAC barrister Stephen Free SC argued there was a rational foundation for finding Berejiklian had been influenced by her desire to maintain or advance her relationship with Maguire.
Berejiklian has consistently rejected the ICAC findings, arguing she has always worked her hardest in the public interest.
– With AAP