Independent Commission Against Corruption - ICAC

Gladys Berejiklian destroyed in the witness stand and her lies exposed by her former chief of staff’s barrister Hugh White

Gladys Berejiklian’s final day at ICAC was possibly the best day of all, as per the below video, as her kindergarten standard lies were quickly unravelled by barrister Hugh White who was acting for Gladys’ former chief of staff Sarah Cruickshank. What was also on show was how callous Gladys Berejiklian is because she was prepared to throw the reputation and career of Sarah Cruickshank under a bus to save herself at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

Background

A brief outline of the background for the below video is ICAC are investigating former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian for failing to declare her relationship with her former boyfriend Daryl Maguire and also possibly her failing to declare his corrupt conduct and/or failing to alert authorities that he had possibly acted corruptly. She could also face criminal charges. 

Gladys Berejiklian’s key defence is that she did not suspect him of acting corruptly and that she did not regard her relationship with Daryl Maguire being significant enough to tell people or declare even though they had discussed having children and marriage etc.

The key lie of her relationship with Daryl Maguire is torn apart by barrister Hugh White who was acting for Gladys’ former chief of staff Sarah Cruickshank in the below video which in some regards was friendly fire as they were meant to be friends and watching the video it even seemed to surprise Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl. 

Sarah Cruickshank says she was told of the relationship in July 2018 after Daryl Maguire admitted acting corruptly at ICAC and he subsequently resigned from the Liberal Party and then parliament on the 3rd of August 2018. Sarah Cruickshank told ICAC that Gladys Berejiklian told her in July 2018 that she had a relationship with Daryl Maguire, but it was historical and had finished before she became NSW Premier in January 2017.

Ms Cruickshank said that is why she never took any action in July 2018 or after regarding the relationship between Gladys and Daryl because she thought it was long over and was shocked in October 2020 when Gladys told ICAC at the public hearing that she has just recently ended the relationship with Daryl Maguire.

Gladys Berejiklian contradicted the evidence of Sarah Cruickshank and said she told Ms Cruickshank in July 2018 that she was in a relationship with Daryl Maguire and that it was an ongoing relationship which lasted until September 2020 which was just before Gladys Berejiklian first gave evidence at ICAC last year in October. If that was true, then Sarah Cruickshank not only lied to ICAC under oath but she also failed to take action on the conflict of interest regarding Gladys Berejiklian and Daryl Maguire.

Ms Cruickshank is still a senior public servant so that would be very damaging for her career and reputation if Gladys’ evidence was true, and it explains why Ms Cruickshank’s barrister Hugh White went very hard after Gladys Berejiklian during cross examination and destroyed her reputation and creditability in the below video.

Gladys Berejiklian says in the above video that Sarah Cruickshank was her friend, but she was still prepared to damage her reputation and career to protect herself at ICAC. To me that is as cold as it gets. But obviously Ms Cruickshank wasn’t going down without a fight and she unleashed her barrister to expose Gladys’ lies and it worked. As I say in the above video it is obvious from the reaction of Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl, she wasn’t buying the lies of Gladys Berejiklian and the game is well and truly up for Gladys.

I published the below on Sunday (31/10/21) “Gladys Berejiklian – Prima facie case to charge her with the criminal offences of “misconduct in public office” which previously got Eddie Obeid jailed and concealing the crimes of Daryl Maguire” which I believe has enough evidence to charge Ms Berejiklian was crimes. It’s a detailed 30-minute video and well worth watching.

ICAC has now adjourned the matter and all the parties will be asked to tender written submissions then Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl will publish her findings which I think probably won’t be finished until the end of December 2021 or early next year.

Please use Twitter, Facebook, email and the other buttons below and help promote this article.

Kangaroo Court of Australia is an independent website and is reliant on donations to keep publishing so please click on the Patreon button below and support independent journalism.

If you would like to support via PayPal use the button below or for other donation options click here to go to the Donations page.

Thank you for your support.

For the KCA t-shirt shop click here.

Follow Kangaroo Court of Australia via email. Enter your email address below and click on the follow button.

15 replies »

  1. Something about the Liberal Party leadership.
    Always act with integrity…
    Always act in the best interest of taxpayers/citizens etc etc
    Would never do anything dishonest…
    I’ve never lied….

  2. The opposite of the 3 wise monkeys is to see, hear, and speak evil at every opportunity. In that case, it’s in the mind of the observer.

  3. I personally found it “very off”, that she seemed to think that it was again “necessary” to stop (again) and bleat her innocence to anyone that would listen, when leaving the ICAC hearing. It was specifically for the benefit of the media and her “one eyed” disciples. Oh Please! Give us a break.

  4. How on earth these people get into any position of power with their incredible memory loss is beyond me! Needs to be checked out by a doctor, all of the pollies seem to have Alzheimer’s

  5. Gladys gave evidence that Ms Cruikshank wouldn’t have known to invite her to bring Darryl with her.
    That is her accidental admission that she had told Cruikshank the relationship was historical.

  6. Berejiklian shoots herself in the foot around 12.51.

    The truly marvellous thing about pathological liars is their extraordinary capacity for cognitive dissonance – the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in mind at the same time.

    In clinical circles this might be considered a sign of sociopathy.

    According to Mr Dowling, “What was also on show was how callous Gladys Berejiklian is because she was prepared to throw the reputation and career of Sarah Cruickshank under a bus to save herself …”.

    As to callousness – another sign of sociopathy – Ms Berejiklian also managed to throw the people of NSW under a bus by refusing to lockdown fast and hard in the face of a Delta outbreak mid-June.

    During the first month of her business-captive ‘mockdown’ and the months prior to her resignation (from June 16 to Oct 1), daily cases and deaths exploded from around 3 cases and zero deaths to over 400 deaths by Oct 1.

    Sociopathy can be lethal.

  7. The level of corruption in this country is beyond words and it must surely be contributing to the increase in the mental health of the community.

Leave a Reply