The High Court has rejected a final bid by Eddie Obeid, Ian Macdonald and Moses Obeid to overturn their corruption convictions.
Former NSW Labor ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald, along with Obeid’s son Moses Obeid, have failed in a High Court appeal against their 2021 corruption convictions.
On Wednesday, the High Court of Australia dismissed the trio’s appeals in full.
The men were convicted of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office after Macdonald granted a lucrative coal exploration licence over land owned by an Obeid family company.
The High Court allowed the appeal to proceed on a single legal ground, relating to whether the prosecution case was capable in law of establishing a conspiracy, given no agreement was alleged for a specific act of misconduct.
In its judgment, the court rejected that argument, finding the alleged agreement was sufficient to constitute the offence.
The court ruled the conspiracy contemplated acts by Macdonald that necessarily satisfied the elements of misconduct in public office, even if the precise acts were not known at the time the agreement was made.
