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Eddie Obeid sentenced to five years in jail for misconduct Eddie Obeid sentenced to five years in jail for misconduct
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Former New South Wales Minister Eddie Obeid has been sentenced to a maximum five years in jail for misconduct in public office. Former Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid has been jailed for improperly lobbying a senior bureaucrat to secretly further his family’s business interests.
The 73-year-old former Labor powerbroker was found guilty in July of lobbying a senior public servant about lucrative Circular Quay leases without revealing his family’s stake in the outlets. Obeid looked shocked as he was sentenced to five years with a non-parole period of three years for wilful misconduct in public office.
In the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday, Justice Robert Beech-Jones sentenced Obeid to a maximum of five years. Justice Robert Beech-Jones described Obeid’s crime as a very serious example of the offence, saying cases of corruption significantly damage the public’s trust in democratic institutions.
A supreme court jury in Sydney took less than a day to deliberate before finding Obeid guilty in July, after a trial lasting three weeks. “Corruption by elected representatives consumes democracies, it destroys confidence in democratic institutions of government,” he said. “Given the nature of the offending, not withstanding Mr Obeid’s personal circumstances ... I’ve determined that no penalty other than imprisonment is appropriate.”
The criminal charges followed adverse findings against Obeid, 72, by theIndependent Commission Against Corruption. Beech-Jones said Obeid’s life, had he not committed the offence, could have been remembered as one of considerable public service and hard work.
Obeid hugged and kissed family members in the back of the courtroom on Tuesday afternoon after hearing the jury’s decision. “Instead his time in public life has produced a very different legacy.”
Over the course of the former MP’s trial, the jury heard that in late 2007, Obeid spoke about the plight of Circular Quay leaseholders to the then deputy chief executive of the NSW Maritime Authority, Steve Dunn – but did not disclose his family’s direct financial stakes in two restaurants along the prime foreshore strip. Obeid will be eligible for parole on 15 December 2019 at the earliest. Immediately after sentencing, Obeid’s defence began arguing an appeal, saying Beech-Jones had misdirected the jury during the June trial.
“Mr Obeid said to Mr Dunn that there were a group of retail tenants at the Circular Quay wharfs that were being mistreated by the Maritime Authority,” Crown prosecutor Peter Neil SC said during his opening address in July. Obeid’s barrister, Guy Reynolds, SC, argued after the sentence there had been a miscarriage of justice and his client should be bailed.
“Mr Dunn took it that Mr Obeid had contacted him as a member of parliament.” Obeid was found guilty in June of hiding his family’s financial interests in harbourside cafes at Circular Quay while lobbying a senior bureaucrat to preserve their leases in 2007.
Obeid, then a member of New South Wales’s upper house, was pushing NSW’s maritime authority chief executive Steve Dunn to allow the leases to be automatically renewed without competitive tender in 2008.
Dunn, who is accused of no wrongdoing, was under the impression that Obeid was acting on behalf of his constituents, not to advance the business interests of his family.
A draft commercial leasing policy was later changed to allow the Circular Quay leases to be renewed without competition in the first instance, although the court found Obeid’s actions had not directly influenced the decision.
The crown, during Obeid’s sentencing hearing, argued Obeid was unrepentant and showed remorse only for being caught. Obeid’s defence, led by Braddon Hughes SC, had earlier argued the prosecution were inflating the seriousness of the crime as one more akin to bribery.
Hughes had urged the court to consider Obeid’s 20 years of service to NSW politics, and a range of health issues he suffered, including a recent acute stroke.
His defence argued the 73-year-old should be able to serve his sentence in home detention, due to his short life expectancy. It was argued he would not receive the same level of medical attention in jail.
A large number of character references were handed to the court on his behalf, many praising his honesty, integrity and devotion to public work. But Beech-Jones found the healthcare Obeid would receive in prison was “adequate”, albeit inferior to that available in the community.
Beech-Jones acknowledged Obeid was of prior good character, but said it was of less weight in cases of corruption.
“In cases of corruption ... where the need for general deterrence is particularly strong, prior good character is to be considered of less value,” he said.
Beech-Jones said the “overwhelming majority” of politicians act in what they believe to be in the best interests of their electorate, knowing they could only expect “persistent criticism” of their actions.
The prosecution came after a finding in the Independent Commission Against Corruption that Obeid had acted corruptly over the Circular Quay cafes.
The Icac inquiry followed a Fairfax Media investigation that uncovered Obeid’s family’s ownership of the cafes were held through a secretive network of trusts. Obeid’s business dealings had been the subject of three Icac inquiries.
He famously remarked there was a 1%chance of him being charged following the Icac findings.
Obeid was installed in the Legislative Council in 1991, quickly establishing himself as a rightwing factional heavyweight, along with ally Joe Tripodi.
Obeid entered cabinet in 1999, but was dumped by then-premier Bob Carr after adverse findings against him by the NSW parliament’s privileges and ethics committee. He eventually resigned from parliament in 2011.