R v Macdonald; R v Edward Obeid; R v Moses Obeid (No 17) [2021] NSWSC 858

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Macdonald; R v Edward Obeid; R v Moses Obeid (No 17) [2021] NSWSC 858 Hearing dates: 12 February – 6 April 2020; 31 August – 26 November 2020; 1 – 17 February 2021 Decision date: 19 July 2021 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Fullerton J Decision: Verdict of guilty entered against each accused. Catchwords: CRIME — conspiracy to commit the common law offence of wilful misconduct in public office — elements of the offence — whether the indictment disclosed an offence known to law — joint trial of three co-accused —accused Macdonald former Minister for Mineral Resources in the Executive Government of the State of New South Wales — scope and content of duties and obligations of confidentiality and impartiality owed by a Minister in the Executive Government of the State of New South Wales — eight acts of wilful misconduct particularised as acts by accused Macdonald in furtherance of the conspiracy — overt acts of accused Edward Obeid and Moses Obeid as acts in furtherance of the conspiracy — circumstantial evidence case — Shepherd direction — consciousness of guilt lies — application of co-conspirators rule in s 87(1)(c) of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Legislation Cited: Coal Mining Act 1973 (NSW) Constitution Act 1902 (NSW) Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Evidence (Audio and Audio Visual Links) Act 1998 (NSW) Freedom of Information Act 1989 (NSW) (repealed) Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988 (NSW) Migration Act 1958 (Cth) Mining Act 1973 (NSW) Mining Act 1992 (NSW) Cases Cited: Ahern v The Queen (1988) 165 CLR 87; [1988] HCA 39 Aston v R (1987) 26 A Crim R 128 Attorney-General v Guardian Newspapers (No 2) [1990] 1 AC 109 Attorney-General (UK) v Heinemann Publishers Pty Ltd (1987) 10 NSWLR 86 Australian Competition & Consumer Commission v Leahy Petroleum Pty Ltd [2007] FCA 794 Banque Commerciale SA (En Liqn) v Akhil Holdings Ltd (1990) 169 CLR 279; [1990] HCA 11 Barca v The Queen (1975) 133 CLR 82; [1975] HCA 42 Bennett v R (1998) 144 FLR 311 Blackstock v R [2013] NSWCCA 172 Browne v Dunn (1893) 6 R 67 (HL) Coco v AN Clark (Engineers) Ltd [1969] RPC 41 Edwards v The Queen (1993) 178 CLR 193; [1993] HCA 63 Elomar v R [2014] NSWCCA 303 Esso Australia Resources Ltd v Plowman (1995) 183 CLR 10; [1995] HCA 19 Faulkner v Upper Boddington Overseers (1857) 3 CB(NS) 412 Fennell v The Queen [2019] HCA 37 Giorgianni v The Queen (1985) 156 CLR 473; [1985] HCA 29 John L Pty Ltd v Attorney-General (NSW) (1987) 163 CLR 508; [1987] HCA 42 Jones v Dunkel (1959) 101 CLR 298; [1959] HCA 8 Landini v State of NSW [2007] NSWSC 259 Mahmood v Western Australia (2008) 232 CLR 397; [2008] HCA 1 Maitland v R; Macdonald v R (2019) 99 NSWLR 376; [2019] NSWCCA 32 Mulcahy v The Queen (1868) LR 3 HL 306 Nye v State of New South Wales (2002) 134 A Crim R 245; [2002] NSWSC 1268 Obeid v R (2015) 91 NSWLR 226; [2015] NSWCCA 309 Obeid v R (2017) 96 NSWLR 155; [2017] NSWCCA 221 Optus Networks Pty Ltd v Telstra Corporation Ltd (2010) 265 ALR 281; [2010] FCAFC 21 Peacock v The King (1911) 13 CLR 619; [1911] HCA 66 Pereira v DPP (1989) 82 ALR 217; [1988] HCA 57 Peters v The Queen (1998) 192 CLR 493; [1998] HCA 7 Plus One International Pty Ltd v Ching (No 3) [2020] NSWSC 1598 Quaid v R (2011) 210 A Crim R 374; [2011] WASCA 141 R v Anderson [1986] AC 27 R v Barbouttis (1995) 37 NSWLR 256 R v Clout (1995) 41 NSWLR 312 R v Dolding (2018) 100 NSWLR 314; [2018] NSWCCA 127 R v Dytham [1979] QB 722 R v Freeman (1985) 3 NSWLR 303 R v Ghosh [1982] EWCA Crim 2; [1982] QB 1053 R v Macdonald; R v Edward Obeid; R v Moses Obeid (No 1) [2019] NSWSC 322 R v Macdonald; R v Edward Obeid; R v Moses Obeid (No 2) [2019] NSWSC 775 R v Macdonald; R v Edward Obeid; R v Moses Obeid (No 3) [2019] NSWSC 898 R v Macdonald; R v Edward Obeid; R v Moses Obeid (No 4) [2019] NSWSC 1286 R v Macdonald; R v Edward Obeid; R v Moses Obeid (No 5) [2019] NSWSC 1489 R v Macdonald; R v Edward Obeid; R v Moses Obeid (No 9) [2019] NSWSC 1785 R v Macdonald; R v Edward Obeid; R v Moses Obeid (No 12) [2020] NSWSC 1946 R v Macdonald; R v Edward Obeid: R v Moses Obeid (No 13) [2020] NSWSC 1947 R v Macdonald; R v Edward Obeid; R v Moses Obeid (No 14) [2020] NSWSC 1948 R v Macdonald; R v Edward Obeid; R v Moses Obeid (No 15) [2020] NSWSC 1949 R v Macraild (Court of Criminal Appeal (NSW), 18 December 1997, unrep) R v McNamara (No 1) (1981) 56 CCC (2d) 193 R v Mills (1963) 47 Cr App R 49 R v Mok (1987) 27 A Crim R 438 R v O'Brien (1974) 59 Cr App R 222 R v Porter [1910] 1 KB 369 R v Quach (2010) 27 VR 310; [2010] VSCA 106 R v RK and LK (2008) 73 NSWLR 80; [2008] NSWCCA 338 R v Schipanski (1989) 17 NSWLR 618 R v Trudgeon (1988) 39 A Crim R 252 Shepherd v The Queen (1990) 170 CLR 573; [1990] HCA 56 Shum Kwok Sher v HKSAR [2002] 3 HKC 117; (2002) 5 HKCFAR 381 Standen v R (2015) 253 A Crim R 301; [2015] NSWCCA 211 The Commonwealth of Australia v John Fairfax & Sons Ltd (1980) 147 CLR 39; [1980] HCA 44 The King v Boston (1923) 33 CLR 386; [1923] HCA 59 The Queen v Apostilides (1984) 154 CLR 563; [1984] HCA 38 The Queen v Baden-Clay (2016) 258 CLR 308; [2016] HCA 35 The Queen v LK; The Queen v RK (2010) 241 CLR 177; [2010] HCA 17 Tripodi v The Queen (1961) 104 CLR 1; [1961] HCA 22 Trudgeon v R (1988) 39 A Crim R 252 Wright v Gasweld Pty Ltd (1991) 22 NSWLR 317 Xu v Minister For Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1999) 95 FCR 425; [1999] FCA 1741 Category: Principal judgment Parties: The Crown Ian Michael Macdonald (Accused) Edward Moses Obeid (Accused) Moses Edward Obeid (Accused) Representation: Counsel: S Callan SC / R Rodger (Crown) J Martin (Accused Macdonald) A Francis (Accused Edward Obeid) MJ Neil QC / M Kalyk (Accused Moses Obeid)