The Independent Commission Against Corruption has found former mining minister Ian Macdonald acted corruptly when he granted a lucrative coal licence in the Hunter Valley to a company run by his ex-union boss “mate” John Maitland.
ICAC heard in its public hearings that when Mr Macdonald was resources minister he “gifted” the Doyles Creek licence to Mr Maitland without a competitive tender and against departmental advice.
The findings from Operation Acacia, are the last of four high-profile inquiries into ministers from the former NSW Labor government.
Mr MacDonald has since released a statement on the ICAC findings stating they’re false, based on guess work and conjecture.
“I granted the Exploration Licence after receiving a Department Brief recommending I grant the Licence for a Training Mine. It was not to benefit Mr Maitland. It was for the public good,” he said.
Meantime New South Wales Greens spokesperson Jeremy Buckingham has called on the government to immediately cancel the Doyles Creek license.
“Section 125 of the Mining Act, gives the Minister the power to cancel a licence ‘if the decision-maker reasonably considers that the holder of the authority provided false or misleading information in or in connection with an application or any report provided under this Act for or with respect to the authority’.
“The government should also act to ensure that no one benefits financially from the corrupt granting of this licence,” he said.
