Former NSW Labor Minister Ian McDonald will remain in prison until at least 2027 for public misconduct related to the issuance of two mining licences, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on March 24.
In 2022, 74-year-old McDonald was convicted after a new trial of granting a mining license at Doyles Creek to a company run by former union boss John Maitland. Maitland was acquitted of being an accessory to a crime.
The men were granted a new trial in 2019 after an appeals court found that the judge in their original trial misled the jury about McDonald’s state of mind. Judge Khament Dhanji, who presided over the bench retrial, ruled that McDonald deliberately ruled in Maitland’s favor and that there was no justification for his actions.
By sentencing him to 14 years and six months in prison without parole for 10 years, the judge emphasized the seriousness of his crime.
“The misconduct took place at a time when public finances were under significant pressure. The damage to the institution of power is a grave loss that affects the entire community.”said the judge.
Doyles Creek obtained the direct distribution license in 2008 when MacDonald was Minister for Natural Resources, and the court ruled that it caused tens of millions of Australian dollars in damages to the state in fees paid by other mining companies for coal exploration licences.
Around the same time, in a tender, China’s Shenhua paid A$300 million (15.5 billion rubles) for an exploration license in Liverpool Plains, while the BHP subsidiary paid A$91 million (4.65 billion rubles). ) for an exploration license at Karon.
Judge Dhani added that McDonald showed no remorse and that the crime was committed 15 years ago. That being said, the sentence was retroactive, given extenuating circumstances, including a number of health issues for McDonald’s, including a major hernia, and anxiety, as well as threats from other inmates.
The judge noted that McDonald was already concurrently serving the maximum prison sentence of nine and a half years for colluding with former Labor Secretary Eddie Obaid and Obaid’s son Moses over a separate mining license at Penny Mountain in Bailong Valley.
Judge Dhanji clarified that because McDonald had already served time for misconduct in respect of both mining licences, he would not be eligible for parole until 2027.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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