FORMER LABOR MINISTERS FOUND TO BE CORRUPT: ICAC
Yahoo!7 & AAPJuly 31, 2013, 10:57 am
Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid and former mining minister Ian Macdonald could face possible criminal charges after the NSW watchdog found they acted corruptly.
Former treasurer Eric Roozendaal was not found to be corrupt.
The reports were handed down today by the Independent Commission Against Corruption after months of investigations.
Commissioner David Ipp has recommended that Mr Obeid and Mr Macdonald be considered by the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for possible prosecution over their involvement in the Mount Penny coal mine.
Mr Obeids' son Moses and businessmen Travers Duncan, John McGuigan, John Atkinson, John Kinghorn and Richard Pool were also found to have engaged in corrupt conduct.
It enabled the Obeids to make $30 million, with the prospect of earning at least $70 million more.
As part of the Indus investigation, ICAC found Mr Obeid's son, Moses, engaged in corrupt conduct over a $10,800 car for former Labor minister Eric Roozendaal.
The corruption watchdog investigated whether Mr Roozendaal received a new Honda CRV at $10,800 - less than its original value - in return for political favours for his colleague, Eddie Obeid.
The ICAC reports said that Moses Obeid "provided a benefit to Mr Roozendaal as an inducement for him to show favour to Obeid business interests in the exercise of his official functions".
Corruption "unexceeded since the days of the Rum Corps"
Prior to the findings being released, counsel assisting Geoffrey Watson warned that if proven, this was "corruption on a scale probably unexceeded since the days of the Rum Corps".
During the investigations, Mr Macdonald was forced on one occasion to deny he was a "crook", Mr Obeid retorted on another that he had "spent more money than (Mr Watson had) made in a lifetime", and the proceedings proved so sensational that curious members of the public began queuing outside the seventh-floor ICAC hearing room, deck chairs in hand.
Operation Jasper unearthed allegations Mr Macdonald rigged a 2008 coal tender process, benefiting the Obeids to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.
Operation Jarilo heard allegations that ex-boxer Lucky Gattellari and businessman Ron Medich offered Mr Macdonald rewards or inducements - including the services of a prostitute called Tiffanie - to arrange meetings with state energy executives.
It's expected to take the commissioner until at least August to deliver findings on a fourth operation - Acacia - which probed a coal exploration licence granted by Mr Macdonald to a company run by ex-union boss John Maitland and entrepreneurs.
Commissioner Ipp will also consider whether the NSW government should amend mining laws and codes of conduct for MPs and ministers.
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