Dastyari enters the witness box
By Lisa Visentin
Sam Dastyari has entered the witness box, and is now giving his version of the disintegration in his friendship with Murnain.
"Kaila and I drifted apart earlier in the year on a personal level," Dastyari says.
He says he's "moved on with politics and moved on with my life".
Sam Dastyari arrives at ICAC on a lime bikeCredit:Renee Nowytarger
(Murnain has finished giving evidence for now, but she'll be back in the box next week.)
Dasytari says the last time he contacted her was around August 3 or 4, when he sent her a letter via WhatsApp.
He says he accidentally dialled her number through WhatsApp last week, but claims he hung up before she could answer.
Murnain signs 'misleading' form to the Electoral Commission
By Lisa Visentin
Murnain has agreed she signed a "misleading" form to the electoral commission, after they wrote to the party in December 2016 asking them to explain the donations received by the party in April 2015.
In the letter, the Electoral Commission asked a series of questions, including requesting the party "provide the names of persons who handed the donations to the ALP on the 9th April 2015."
Labor's letter in response, signed by Murnain and dated December 19, 2016, nominated party official Kenrick Chea.
(Cheah gave evidence earlier this week that Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo carried $100,000 in donations into the office in an Aldi bag and handed it to then-boss Jamie Clements).
Counsel Assisting Scott Robertson asks Murnain if she knew at that time that it wasn't Mr Cheah who brought the money into the office, "but rather someone else"?
"I was told some time after the money came in that Jamie [Clements] had accepted the funds in 2015," Murnain says.
She says she delegated the job of drafting the responses to the electorate commission to Labor’s governance director, Julie Sibraa, and asked her to check them with the lawyers Holding Redlich.
Murnain admits some of the answers to the EC were “not correct”, but says she had recused herself from the process.
“I would answer the question very differently now. I didn't help draft this letter, I signed the letter and sent it off after it was delegated out to others. But yes, it should be a different answer.”
The Commissioner asked Murnain if she deliberately delegated the task of responding to the Electoral Commission to party staffers who did “not have the full story”.
Murnain agrees they did not have the information she had, but claims she was "trying to follow the appropriate processes in the office at the time."
'Misleading' letter to Electoral Commission
By Lisa Visentin
Counsel Assisting the inquiry Scott Robertson is now questing whether Murnain has correctly recalled the order of meetings she held on September 16, 2016.
The inquiry has just been shown evidence of WhatsApp messages from Dastyari's phone which appear to contradict Murnain's recollection.
Murnain told the hearing yesterday she met with Ernest Wong around 6:45pm out the back of NSW Parliament, where he told her Huang had illegally donated to the party. She said she then called Sam Dastyari, who advised her to call the party's lawyers.
After speaking with Dastyari in his car, Murnain said she walked to the MLC Centre to meet Holding Redlich partner Ian Robertson. She texted Mr Robertson at 7.18pm to say she had arrived and was "at the top of the escalator".
However, a message from Dastyari's phone, time-stamped at 7.41pm, shows him saying: “Yo, I'll come to you.”
Murnain queries whether it could be explained by "a time difference in our phones".
“That’s the only thing i can think of," she says
Asked whether she met with Dastyari both before and after meeting with Mr Robertson, or if she had in fact only met with him afterwards, she said: I don't know the answer to that.
“My memory is I met with Sam prior to meeting with Ian Robertson," Murnain said. But she says it's also possible "I met up with him afterwards".
Under further questioning she added: "It is possible I've mixed the order up."
"I was scared"
By Lisa Visentin
Murnain is having a tough time in the witness box now, but agrees to continue giving evidence despite being visibly upset.
She says she did not report the conversation with Ernest Wong to anyone else on the advice of lawyer Ian Robertson, and because she was "scared".
"I was following the advice religiously. I was scared," Murnain says.
"Ernest hadn't given me a name when he gave me this information as to who we needed to look out for."
She elaborates that she was scared for the party's future, and was "doing my best" to follow the advice.
“I was scared for the office and the reputation of the party," she says.
"I obviously recognise now that is something I shouldn't have done. I should have made different decisions.”
Murnain breaks down over friendship with Dastyari
By Lisa Visentin
Through tears, Murnain has told the inquiry about the breakdown in her friendship with Sam Dastyari.
"I'm no longer a very close friend of Sam’s," Murnain says, adding that in 2016 the pair were close.
She says the pair's friendship fell apart during the federal election when she says people "were putting a lot of pressure on me to resign as general secretary".
"Sam had the same view," she says.
She adds the pair "haven't spoken frequently since the state election" due to "differing views about the future of the party."
She says Dastyari tried calling her through WhatsApp a few weeks ago, but she didn't pick up.
Murnain back in the witness box
By Lisa Visentin
Murnain has resumed her spot in the witness box.
The line of questioning begins with the news today that Murnain was suspended as general secretary by the party last night.
She says she read about her suspension in the media this morning.
NSW Labor boss Kaila Murnain at the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Wednesday.Credit:AAP
She adds that she received a letter from the party advising her of her suspension and "briefly read it this morning".
The end of the road for the Boss Lady
By Lisa Visentin
Kaila Murnain was known in Labor circles as the Boss Lady. She was the first female general secretary in NSW Labor's history.
At the time of the 2015 Chinese Friends of Labor dinner, Murnain was assistant general secretary, working under then boss Jamie Clements.
But by September 2016, when she claims Ernest Wong told her Chinese Billionaire Huang Xiangmo had illegally donated to the party, she was in the top job.
Murnain took the party reigns as general secretary in January 2016.
After Murnain's evidence yesterday, NSW Opposition Leader Jodi McKay called on the party to suspend her.
Labor's senior officials promptly called an emergency meeting for 8pm, and by 8:30 Murnain had been suspended from "her employment until further notice."
In a statement released last night, the party said Pat Garcia had been appointed as acting secretary. Until his swift promotion, Garcia had been assistant secretary.
What happened yesterday?
By Lisa Visentin
Yesterday, the inquiry heard a surfeit of sensational evidence. So it's worth recapping the highlights.
First of all, let's look at the evidence Kaila Murnain, who was one of two assistant general secretaries at the time of the 2015 dinner.
She said she first discovered the party had accepted an illegal donation from Mr Huang after she was called to the back of NSW Parliament by then-MP Ernest Wong on September 16, 2016.
Kaila Murnain outside ICAC in Sydney yesterday.Credit:AAP Image/Joel Carrett
After talking to Wong, she called Sam Dastyari who drove and picked her up from Parliament. She said she was crying as she told him about the donation. He advised her to tell the party's lawyers - Holding Redlich.
She called Ian Robertson, a partner with Holding Redlich, who she says told her to keep quiet about the information, and not to record their meeting.
The inquiry also heard evidence yesterday from Steve Tong, one of the 12 alleged donors.
He said he had never donated money to the Labor Party and did not attend the 2015 dinner.
He also claimed his bosses at property company Wu International used his name to make a $5000 donation without his knowledge.
What is the inquiry about?
By Lisa Visentin
The inquiry centres around a Chinese Friends of Labor dinner, held in March 2015, where the Labor Party supposedly raised $100,000 in donations from 12 donors.
However, the ICAC is investigating whether in fact these donors were "straw donors" used to circumvent the state's donation laws.
The inquiry kicked off this week with the explosive allegations that Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo, a property developer, delivered $100,000 cash in an Aldi plastic bag to former party boss Jamie Clements at ALP headquarters in Sydney.
Good morning!
By Lisa Visentin
Good morning! We are coming to you live from the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which is examining allegations the NSW Labor Party broke political donation laws.
It's been an extraordinary few days of evidence, with bombshell after bombshell dropped from the witness box.
This morning we can expect to see Kaila Murnain, the now ex-general secretary, return to the witness box.
After giving evidence yesterday, Ms Murnain was suspended from the role in an emergency meeting of party officials last night.
Sam Dastyari and former NSW Labor MP Ernest Wong are also scheduled to appear.
Stay with us as we bring you rolling coverage of the day's events.
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