The 63-year-old,who had a secret relationship with former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian,faced Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday with his lawyer Jim Harrowell who briefly mentioned the case before magistrate Margaret Quinn.
Asked how he was doing as he left court,Maguire replied:“I’m well.”
Former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire leaves court on Tuesday.AAP
Maguire was charged in November last year with conspiring to cause to be furnished false documents and false or misleading information relating to non-citizens.
Federal prosecutors allege Maguire conspired with migration agent Maggie Sining Logan between January 2013 and August 2015 to help non-citizens fraudulently obtain visas.
Maguire was the Liberal member for Wagga Wagga from 1999 to July 2018 when he quit the party.
Logan is before the courts on 12 counts of causing the delivery of documents with a false statement,an offence under the Migration Act.
Maguire’s alleged cash-for-visas scheme was the subject of Independent Commission Against Corruption hearings in 2020 and he was later investigated by the Department of Home Affairs and Border Force.
The hearings also exposed his secret affair with Berejiklian,who resigned in September 2021 following the revelation.
Harrowell told the court the parties had agreed to an adjournment to March 21 and sought for Maguire to be excused on the next occasion if the charge against him was not ready to be certified,given he resides in Wagga Wagga.
Maguire with his lawyer Jim Harrowell on Tuesday.AAP
The matter will return to court four days before the state election on March 25.
Outside court,Harrowell would not be drawn on any plea due to the early stage of proceedings.
“We’ve just been given a copy of the brief,so we haven’t actually seen the prosecution case as yet,” he said.
“I literally have in my pocket a USB which was served,which is the brief,which is a couple of weeks late. So once I’ve read that,we’ll know what to do.”
Asked about Maguire’s evidence before ICAC,he said,“evidence given in ICAC is not admissible in this court case. All right. That’s the law.”
There is no suggestion Berejiklian had any involvement in the alleged conspiracy,nor has she been implicated in the various schemes of Maguire that were uncovered by ICAC.
with Jenny Noyes and Harriet Alexander
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