The former lover of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has confessed to using his public office for personal profit including helping with a "cash-for-visa scheme" and secretly directing a networking firm.
Daryl Maguire faced the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Wednesday, two days after Ms Berejiklian stunned her colleagues by revealing her five-year romance with the disgraced former Liberal MP.
The 61-year-old man first elected to parliament in 1999 admitted on oath using his position as MP, parliamentary secretary and NSW Asia-Pacific parliamentary friendship group chair "with a view to making money" for himself and his associates between 2012 and 2018.
Those six years mark the time from networking firm G8way International's creation until Mr Maguire's humiliating departure from politics after appearing before ICAC over property commissions.
G8way, which Mr Maguire effectively directed, ran several ventures including linking Chinese buyers with Australian businesses such as winemakers, cotton growers and miners.
On a website which Mr Maguire said was "not well developed", the firm boasted that its "influence and experience reaches to high levels of government".
It charged a commission of up to 10 per cent on sales stemming from its introductions.
Mr Maguire admitted using electoral and parliamentary staff, including those in the NSW Parliament library, and taxpayer-funded facilities including his office and printers to help make money for G8way and himself.
He also played a role in a visa scheme linked to G8way, identifying businesses that could sponsor Chinese nationals.
Visa applicants paid the first three months of their wages and paid their migration agent Maggie Wang commissions of up to $20,000, the inquiry heard.
On more than one occasion, Mr Maguire accepted delivery of thousands of dollars of cash to his parliamentary office to allow him to take his cut.
He told Commissioner Ruth McColl he became suspicious in early 2013 that the visa scheme wasn't legitimate and he had an argument with Ms Wang.
"You cannot put people at risk by breaking the rules," Mr Maguire recalled telling Ms Wang.
Scott Robertson, counsel assisting the commissioner, questioned if Mr Maguire was seriously suggesting he understood the scheme to be "a legitimate visa arrangement" given applicants had to pay their own wages.
"It was beneficial to the business. Yes, I did," the former Liberal MP replied.
Mr Robertson, who characterised the operation as a scam, later drew Mr Maguire's attention to an email in May 2013 in which the caterer within Wagga RSL sought a refund on his $1000 application after discovering how it worked.
"When asked by Tim what happens if immigration officials turn up, he was told 'They probably won't but on the off chance they do, just tell him he is on leave/holidays/sick etc'," Mr Maguire's close friend and G8way's official director Phillip Elliott said in the email.
Mr Maguire agreed the email "was making clear ... that the scheme, at least in that point in time, involved lying to immigration officials".
He also admitted he should have updated the premier about his conflicts of interest, as obliged under the NSW ministerial code of conduct.
He is yet to give evidence about his relationship with Ms Berejiklian, which she told the inquiry began in 2015.
On Monday, the inquiry heard intercepted phone conversations between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire in which she said she didn't need to know details about his business deals.
"I stuffed up in my personal life," she said after the hearing.
"Had I known then what I know now, clearly I would not have made those personal decisions."
On Tuesday Ms Berejiklian said she was "absolutely unaware" of any alleged impropriety by him.
The inquiry resumes on Thursday.
Australian Associated Press
