Former Wagga MP Daryl Maguire will be sentenced in August. Photo: Supplied.
Daryl Maguire has been granted bail despite being handed a 10-month jail sentence after being found guilty of providing misleading evidence to the state’s corruption watchdog.
Lawyers for the former Wagga MP quickly lodged an appeal and sought for him to be released on bail after he was sentenced by Magistrate Clare Farnan in a Sydney court on Wednesday (20 August).
The court granted him bail with a number of conditions. Mr Maguire will be forced to hand in his passport to the registrar of Sydney District Court and is prevented from applying for another passport.
He is to live in Wagga (postcode 2650) or an address notified to the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the court within 24 hours of any change. Any absence of more than three consecutive nights is to be notified to the DPP.
Mr Maguire is to remain out on bail until his appeals hearing, which is scheduled for 2 October.
He must not enter any international airport or other point of departure from Australia, but can enter the Domestic Terminal at Sydney Airport.
In June, Mr Maguire faced a criminal court hearing over allegations he misled the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). He pled not guilty but was convicted of the offence by Magistrate Farnan.
The former MP was brought undone over his 2016 dealings with then Canterbury councillor Michael Hawatt, who was assisting a company trying to sell a $48 million Campsie development known as ‘Harrisons’, which was across the road from Canterbury Hospital.
At the time, Mr Maguire was a sitting MP who was helping Chinese company Country Gardens look for investment opportunities, including the possible purchase of Harrisons. He claimed he was just networking and making introductions and that he didn’t expect to receive any financial benefit for this role.
At an Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing in 2018, Mr Maguire was asked if he ever attempted to do business with Mr Hawatt. He said no. The 66-year-old also denied approaching or being approached by Mr Hawatt to make money out of a business.
However, in 2016, ICAC intercepted private telephone calls between the two men that told a different story. These recordings were played in the ICAC hearing after Mr Maguire denied doing business with Mr Hawatt.
In one conversation on 9 May 2016, Mr Maguire is heard saying: “My client is mega big and got mega money”.
The two men were heard talking about the sale of a property across the road from Canterbury Hospital.
“What’s he going to give you to sell it?” Mr Maguire is heard asking.
“I think he’s going for around 1.5, 2 per cent, something like that,” Mr Hawatt replies.
Further along in the conversation, Mr Maguire is heard saying: “One point five per cent isn’t enough divided by two if you know what I’m talking about”.
In a ruling handed down in June 2025, Magistrate Clare Farnan said she saw this conversation as evidence that Mr Maguire expected to receive half Mr Hawatt’s commission if the sale of the property was finalised. She therefore ruled that he was guilty of providing misleading evidence to ICAC, which is a criminal offence.
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