A corruption probe has heard an explosive recording of Gladys Berejiklian giving evidence behind closed doors as the ICAC inquiry into the ousted NSW Premier kicks off.
The former leader was spotted sporting a power suit, new hair cut and confident smile on her to her lawyer's office on Monday morning, as the Independent Commission Against Corruption revealed the basis of their claims that led to her resigning in disgrace.
The inquiry began with counsel assisting ICAC Scott Robertson playing a recording of a private hearing from September 18 where Ms Berejiklian was repeatedly pressed on whether she had suspected her former boyfriend, ex-Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, of engaging in misconduct.
Mr Robertson questioned if she had suspicions about Mr Maguire's activities after he first appeared before a separate corruption inquiry in 2018, resulting in his dismissal from her government.
'I was in shock, I didn't know what to think. I didn't have enough detail. I hadn't read what was happening. I can't remember what I thought at that time,' Ms Berejiklian said.
Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is seen at Northbridge Plaza on Monday morning as ICAC begins public hearings into her conduct while premier
Mr Robertson said he wasn't asking if she knew specifically about his corrupt conduct, only whether she suspected any corrupt conduct at all.
After saying several times that she couldn't be sure, Ms Berejiklian eventually said the answer was no.
ICAC is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian:
Engaged in conduct between 2012 and 2018 that was 'liable to allow or encourage the occurrence of corrupt conduct' by former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, with whom she was in a close personal relationship between 2015 and 2018 Exercised her official functions dishonestly or partially by refusing to exercise her duty to report any reasonable suspicions about Mr Maguire to the ICAC Exercised any of her official functions partially in connection with two multimillion-dollar grants in Mr Maguire's electorate, to the Australian Clay Target Association Inc and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music.Ms Berejiklian has repeatedly strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Robertson described the grants to the Australian Clay Target Association Inc and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music as 'case studies'.
He said private hearings held by ICAC established that public officials involved with these grants would say they had been 'influenced in the steps they took' based on what they thought to be 'Ms Berejiklian's support for or interest in those projects'.
Mr Robertson said in his opening address that under the ministerial code of conduct NSW ministers must exhibit, and be seen to exhibit, the highest standards of probity.
He told ICAC that there are some circumstances where a person's 'ordinary entitlement to privacy must be subordinated to their public duty. Put another way, public duties come first'.
'While a person holds office of public trust, for example, like the office of premier of that of treasurer, it may be necessary for that person to disclose that she or he is in a personal relationship with a particular person if the existence of that relationship is something that could objectively have the potential to influence the performance of the officeholder's public duties.'
Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is seen in a smart power suit at Northbridge Plaza on Monday morning as an ICAC hearing into her behaviour starts its public hearings
The public hearings started shortly after 10am on Monday and are expected to run for two weeks.
Another former NSW premier, Mike Baird, is among the witnesses set to
