Third corruption strike for Macdonald

The NSW ICAC has found Ian Macdonald acted corruptly over his granting of a lucrative coal licence. Source: AAP

DISGRACED former Labor MP Ian Macdonald is again facing possible criminal charges after the NSW corruption watchdog found him corrupt for the third time in two months.

Former union boss John Maitland was also found to have acted corruptly in the damning report handed to parliament by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Friday.

It found Mr Macdonald granted a lucrative coal exploration licence over Doyles Creek, in the NSW Hunter Valley, to his "mate" Mr Maitland as a favour.

Mr Maitland, the former head of the Construction, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), has been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for criminal investigation along with fellow Doyles Creek Mining directors Andrew Poole and Craig Ransley.

The three men could also face charges for giving false or misleading statements made to the Department of Primary Industries (DPI).

Mr Macdonald has been referred to the DPP for misconduct in public office.

The Commonwealth DPP has also been given evidence that could be admissible in the prosecution of Mr Maitland, Mr Poole and Mr Ransley for offences under the Corporations Act.

The trio has also been referred to the NSW Crime Commission for possible assets seizure.

ICAC Commissioner David Ipp found Mr Maitland turned his initial $165,000 investment in Doyles Creek Mining into a nearly $15 million windfall while the company's original shareholders profited to the tune of $85 million.

The Supreme Court can grant a Crime Commission request for an assets forfeiture order if it finds a person has engaged in serious crime-related activity, even if the person is never charged or convicted of any criminal offence.

Meanwhile, NuCoal Resources, the company that purchased Doyles Creek in 2010, has been placed in a trading halt in the wake of the findings.

It's the last set of findings following four separate ICAC inquiries into Mr Macdonald and others.

Last month, Mr Ipp found Mr Macdonald had acted corruptly in granting an exploration licence over land owned by the family of fellow former NSW Labor MP Eddie Obeid.

He also accepted the services of a prostitute, Tiffanie, in return for arranging meetings between the businessman Ron Medich and executives from a state-run power company.

Politicians and others lined up on Friday to welcome the ICAC's findings - and to distance themselves from the men now branded corrupt.

NSW Greens mining spokesman Jeremy Buckingham said Premier Barry O'Farrell must "tear up" the exploration licence now held by NuCoal.

The publicly-listed company bought Doyles Creek Mining via what the ICAC describes as a "a backdoor listing" in late 2009 and early 2010, after Mr Macdonald ignored his department's advice to issue the exploration licence in late 2008.

"From day one people were raising concerns," Mr Buckingham told reporters on Friday.

"This licence is the proceed of crime."

But NuCoal chairman Gordon Galt said his company was "an innocent party in this affair" and acquired Doyles Creek Mining in good faith.

"Arguably, no other party has suffered as much as NuCoal despite our demonstrable and acknowledged innocence."

Mr O'Farrell has already ruled out taking action on the licence until he receives final recommendations from the ICAC later this year.

He told reporters he hoped Friday's report would "draw a line on what was a pretty poor and sad part of this state's history".

"Whilst I expect there will be some, including the Greens today, who urge action from the state government off the back of this report, I say again, the ICAC commissioner has made clear that he will be reporting separately about a number of matters including his views on these leases," Mr O'Farrell said.

NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson said he wanted to see Mr Macdonald, and others fingered by the ICAC report, land in jail.

"The justice they receive should be swift and decisive, and charges should be laid against all of them as quickly as is possible," he told reporters.

The inquiry heard evidence that Mr Maitland, as a former union boss, wielded considerable political clout and was able to help secure Mr Macdonald's parliamentary pre-selection in 2006.

Mr Maitland's successor as head of the CFMEU, Tony Maher, told reporters the saga showed political reform was urgently needed.

"You fix this by reforming the interaction between business lobbyists and governments," he told reporters.

"You make sure it's transparent and it's watertight."

Mr Macdonald slammed the corruption finding.

"It is based on guesswork and conjecture," he said in a statement.

"ICAC again demonstrates bias and prejudice towards me.

"There was no wrongdoing or misconduct on my part. I did not receive a benefit of any kind."

He said he did not realise Mr Maitland - whom he described as a "key resource stakeholder", not a "mate" - had a financial stake in his push for an exploration licence that could support his proposed training mine.

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