For years, Eddie Obeid has rebutted all allegations. Now the truth cannot be denied | Anne Davies

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If it’s corruption, then it’s corruption on a scale probably unprecedented since the days of the Rum Corps, said Geoffrey Watson SC, assistant counsel for the NSW Independent Commission against Corruption, at the opening of the report. investigation into the granting of a coal license to Mount Penny in 2012.

A decade later, the New South Wales Supreme Court ruled that the granting of the controversial Bylong Valley coal exploration license was the result of a criminal conspiracy that resulted in the Obeid family winning. at least $ 30 million.

The conviction of former Labor power broker Eddie Obeid, 77, his son Moses, 51, and former Mineral Resources Minister Ian Macdonald ends one of the most sordid and extraordinary sagas in the world politics of New South Wales.

The trio now face up to seven years in prison after being convicted of conspiracy to willfully commit misconduct in the performance of public office.

Judge Elizabeth Fullerton discovered they had embarked on a conspiracy involving Macdonald using his post as Minister of Labor Resources in 2008 to influence the creation of a valuable coal exploration license on land owned by the family Obeid and several associates.

It is fundamental to our system of government that ministers who serve as members of the executive government are given powers, duties and responsibilities exclusively in the public interest, Fullerton said.

The very solemnity of this promise recognizes that the exercise of ministerial powers, duties and responsibilities in the public interest will be rendered useless if a Minister is motivated by personal interests or, as is the case here, when Mr. Macdonald, in his capacity as Minister for Mineral Resources, agreed with another Member of Parliament and a member of that person’s family that he would willfully violate his duties and obligations in order to advantage, promote or promote their interests. personal financials.

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Having served as the state’s mineral resources minister from 1999 to 2003, Eddie Obeid undoubtedly had a better appreciation than most of where the state’s coal wealth lay. But when he bought a farm called Cherrydale Park in the Bylong Valley for $ 3.65 million in 2007, he might have just had an idea he could make up to $ 100 million with it. what was below.

By this time, Obeid was no longer a minister, instead devoting his days to training kings in the Labor Party. Prime ministers came and went as Obeid used his numbers in the right-wing New South Wales faction to bring and defeat heads of state.

Obeids’ desire to mix business and politics had led to repeated controversies over the years. Its activities were closely watched by a number of investigative journalists, particularly my former Sydney Morning Herald colleague Kate McClymont, who had made her life the job of following the intricacies of Obeids’ business interests.

Together, we had successfully completed many real estate transactions. Obeid was reportedly involved and followed his influence in Labor-controlled councils and ALP preselections.

McClymont’s stories about Obeids’ interests in leases at Circular Quay led to him going to jail in 2016 for misconduct in the public service.

Real estate rumbles

The coal mine was of a different order.

In October 2009, the Australian Financial Review reported that the Obeid family was able to make an exceptional gain on the potential sale of Cherrydale Park, after Cascade Coal obtained an exploration permit on the area, known as by Mount Penny.

Obeid senior told the Financial Review he did not know if there was any coal under his property. He said he would fight to preserve his family romance.

Just before Christmas 2009, AFR published another story, Whats in Santas coal sack ?, which raised intriguing questions about who had won a series of small coal exploration licenses, including that of Mount Penny.

In 2010, I decided to take a closer look at the mining license and Cherrydale Park.

I quickly learned from the locals that there had been a wave of activity in the local real estate market.

Two other farms near Cherrydale Park had been sold just before the permit was issued. One was bought by a friend of Moses Obeid, the other by an accountant who worked for an associate in the Obeids. Yet the Obeids paid their tariffs.

Then there was the granting of the exploration permit itself. An executive from Monaro Mining, which initially won the Mount Penny permit, told me that he was invited by a consultant to bid for the permit, and that could not go wrong.

We felt like we had been hit in the shoulder by a fairy, he told me.

In the end, Monaro couldn’t shell out the money and the license was granted to Cascade.

In May 2010, my story detailing how investors with ties to the Obeid family were lining up to buy property in the valley appeared on page three of the Herald under the headline Coal below: How Rich Is Her valley ?.

Did I get to the bottom of it? No. But I felt there were too many coincidences and too many ties to the Obeids.

Icac too. A few days after the Herald story, I got a call from a corruption agency investigator. He too was intrigued.

With his much greater powers, he was able to obtain documents, subpoena witnesses and attach more points.

I testified at the Icac Inquiry and again before the Supreme Court about the lies the Obeids told me about Cherrydale Park and the coincidence of investing their friends nearby.

Now, a decade later, the extent of the corruption described by The Herald and claimed by Watson has finally been confirmed.

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