Former NSW Labor ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald and Obeid's son Moses have been found guilty of conspiring over a lucrative mine licence.
Eddie Obeid 77, his middle son Moses 51, and Macdonald 72, stood trial accused of conspiring over a coal exploration licence granted over the Obeid family farm in the Bylong Valley near Mudgee, when Mr Macdonald was Resources Minister from 2007 to 2009.
The Crown case was that they conspired for Macdonald to commit misconduct in public office.
Justice Elizabeth Fullerton who presided over their year-long trial without a jury, retried to consider her verdict in February this year. The guilty verdict that she delivered today took almost two hours, reflecting what she called "the complexity of the trial". Justice Fullerton said the mental element of conspiracy is "an intention shared with at least one other person."
The judge said she found Macdonald committed five of eight acts of misconduct he was accused of in setting up and granting the licence. Justice Fullerton said Moses Obeid took a "hands-on approach" in exploiting Macdonald's misconduct in public office, and that Eddie Obeid had knowledge of it. During the year-long- trial that included 38 witnesses and 6,000 pages of exhibits, prosecutor Sophie Callan SC, argued there was enough circumstantial evidence to prove the men were guilty.
The prosecutor argued Ian Macdonald and Eddie Obeid had a close personal and working relationship, and that the Obeid family made $30,000,000 from the deal.
The three men did not give evidence at their trial. Ian Macdonald's defence barrister, Jonathan Martin, argued the crown case was mere speculation and that his client was a Minister passionate about his work and trying to act in the best interests of the state of New South Wales.
Eddie Obeid's barrister, April Francis, argued there were complex commercial arrangements surrounding the coal licence and there was an "innocent" alternative explanation to the crown version of events.
Moses Obeid's barrister, Maurice Neil, described the crown case as "reconstructed fiction" impaired by an ICAC public inquiry that used up a "massive amount" of time and money.
The three men, who are on bail, were not in court for the verdict which was delivered via video due to covid restrictions.
Eddie Obied, Ian Macdonald, Moses Obeid found guilty of mine licence conspiracy - ABC News
