A New South Wales District Court jury has found former state MP Daryl Maguire guilty of conspiring to lodge fraudulent visa applications on behalf of at least 10 Chinese nationals between 2013 and 2015. Prosecutors argued that while still the Member for Wagga Wagga, Maguire worked with migration agent Monica Hao and businesswoman Maggie Wang to recruit local employers willing to submit sham job offers in exchange for cash. Twenty skilled-worker visa applications were ultimately lodged, each containing false information about the positions on offer and the applicants’ duties. The verdict caps a long-running corruption scandal that first surfaced during Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) hearings in 2020. Evidence tendered in the criminal trial included testimony from regional business owners who admitted accepting envelopes of cash and from Chinese applicants who said they paid up to A$30,000 for a “guaranteed” pathway to permanent residency. Maguire’s defence claimed he was merely making introductions and had no knowledge of the fraudulent paperwork, but jurors rejected that argument after five days of deliberations. Australian migration experts say the case is a watershed moment for visa-compliance enforcement. The Department of Home Affairs has stepped-up post-lodgement audits and warned employers that sponsorship obligations will be policed far more aggressively. Corporations that rely on temporary skill and global talent visas can expect deeper scrutiny of employment contracts, payroll records and market-salary benchmarking in the year ahead. For multinational HR teams the message is clear: any arrangement that even looks like a “job on paper” could now trigger criminal investigations. Companies should review third-party migration-agent relationships, strengthen due-diligence protocols and ensure audit trails prove that sponsored roles are genuine and paid at or above the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT). Sentencing is set for October; Maguire faces up to 10 years’ jail and hefty financial penalties.
Source: ABC News
