The New South Wales corruption watchdog will this week hand down its long-awaited report following its investigation that saw Gladys Berejiklian resign as premier.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) will hand their findings from Operation Keppel to the state parliament’s presiding officers at 9am on Thursday, 29 June.
They are then expected to give approval for the report to be made public sometime that day.
The release comes after repeated delays the commission blamed on the complexity of the investigation that led the Covid-era premier to resign in late 2021.
While we wait, here’s a look back at how we got here and what happens when the findings are released.
What is Operation Keppel?
This was the name given to the Icac investigation into the former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire, following allegations he engaged in conduct that involved a breach of public trust between 2012 and 2018.
During the course of the investigation in 2020, it was revealed that Maguire and Berejiklian had been in a secret “close personal relationship” for several years, bringing the then premier into the investigation.
The probe widened to examine whether Berejiklian breached the public trust by “refusing to exercise her duty” under the state’s anti-corruption law to report matters she “suspected on reasonable grounds concerned or may concern corrupt conduct in relation to the conduct of” Maguire.
Icac has also examined whether there was any conflict of interest between Berejiklian’s public duties and private interests while she was in a relationship with Maguire.
The relationship lasted several years but ended after Maguire was named as a person of interest in 2019 by the commission.
Why did Berejiklian stand down?
Berejiklian stood down at the height of the state’s pandemic restrictions in 2021 immediately after Icac revealed it was investigating if she had breached public trust by not reporting Maguire’s alleged conduct.
At the time, she said she had “no choice” but to stand down.
“My resignation as premier could not happen at a worse time, but the timing is completely outside of my control, as the Icac has chosen to take this action during the most challenging weeks of the most challenging times in the history of NSW,” she said.
“That is the Icac’s prerogative. Resigning at this time is against every instinct in my being and something which I do not want to do.”
She added: “I state categorically that I have always acted with the highest level of integrity.”
“History will demonstrate I have executed my duties again with the highest level of integrity for the benefit of the people of NSW, for who I have had the privilege to serve,” she said.
She did not want to become a “distraction” as the state came out of its three-month lockdown and given there was no clear timeframe for the investigation, she felt she could not step aside and instead needed to step down.
The former premier has repeatedly denied any alleged wrongdoing, including during a grilling at hearings in October 2021.
Why has this taken so long?
The commissioner, Ruth McColl, was expected to hand down findings last year, but that was then delayed until early 2023.
Then at the start of the year, the commission blamed “complex matters of law and fact” as well as the quantity of evidence linked to the case and announced the report would be further delayed until after the March election.
The operation included two public inquiries spanning more than 30 days leading to almost 3,000 pages of transcript. There were also 516 exhibits totalling more than 10,000 pages and almost 1,000 more pages of submissions, the last of which landed with the commission in October.
The delays have been of major concern to many, who say it should have been handled as quickly as possible for the sake of the state and all involved.
Earlier this year, the former supreme court judge Anthony Whealy KC said the investigation was a “black mark” against the agency and took aim at McColl, suggesting the report should be taken over by another member of the watchdog.
“They’ve not been able to get that commissioner to perform with what I would call a moderate standard of efficiency,” Whealy said.
He claimed it was “unfair” for the investigation to be hanging over Maguire and Berejiklian for so long.
What could Icac find and then what happens?
Following inquiries like this one, Icac publishes a report to parliament including details of what it was investigating and how it did so, along with findings and recommendations.
The commissioner could make a finding against the people it investigated, which could include identifying no corrupt conduct, a finding of serious corrupt conduct or a breach of the ministerial code.
Depending on the findings, it may also make disciplinary recommendations or advise the parliament it has referred matters to the director of public prosecutions to consider prosecution.
It may also make recommendations for changes in the systems and procedures that allowed any corrupt conduct to occur.
What the commission finds will in large parts shape the way the repeated delays and the need for the premier to have resigned over the investigation are perceived by the public and Macquarie Street.
Berejiklian was the third NSW Liberal premier to resign amid Icac investigations, following Nick Greiner and Barry O’Farrell.
