bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse in Sydney

A leading Australian politician resigned on Wednesday after admitting to a “massive memory fail” when he told a corruption inquiry he never received a bottle of wine worth around A$3,000 (HK$21,822).
Barry O’Farrell, who leads Australia’s populous New South Wales state, told the country’s Independent Commission Against Corruption on Tuesday that he was never given the 1959 bottle of Penfolds Grange Hermitage.
But when advised that a thank you note he had signed would be presented at the inquiry on Wednesday, O’Farrell quit.
“I’ve accepted that I have had a massive memory fail,” he told reporters in Sydney.

“I still can’t explain either the arrival of a gift that I have no recollection of, or its absence, which I certainly still can’t explain.”
The Commission has heard that Nick Di Girolamo, then chief executive of a water company accused of expenses fraud, sent the rare wine to O’Farrell shortly after he became premier in 2011.
Di Girolamo said the gift – a 1959 vintage to mark the year of O’Farrell’s birth – had been couriered to the Liberal Party premier’s Sydney home to offer “sincere congratulations” on his election victory.

	“I still can’t explain either the arrival of a gift that I have no recollection of, or its absence, which I certainly still can’t explain.”

	Barry O'Farrell
The inquiry has been investigating how Di Girolamo’s company, Australia Water Holdings (AWH), was allegedly able to bill a state-owned firm for luxury travel, million-dollar salaries and major political donations.
It has been alleged that the company stood to make up to Aus$60 million if its proposal for a public-private partnership with the government was approved. The deal never went ahead.
O’Farrell said he believed the evidence he gave the inquiry – in which he strenuously denied ever receiving the lavish gift – had been truthful, and in no way did he seek to mislead the commission.
He said he would formally resign at a meeting of the New South Wales parliamentary Liberal Party next week, enabling the election of a new state premier.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who leads a Liberal-National Party coalition government, said O’Farrell had “inadvertently” misled the corruption watchdog and he maintained enormous respect for the departing premier.

	“We are seeing an act of integrity, an act of honour, the like of which we have rarely seen in Australian politics.”

	Australian PM Tony Abbott
“We are seeing an act of integrity, an act of honour, the like of which we have rarely seen in Australian politics,” Abbott said.
O’Farrell is not the first politician facing difficulties at the corruption inquiry, with Australia’s assistant treasurer Arthur Sinodinos standing aside last month.
The inquiry has made no allegations against Sinodinos and he denies any wrongdoing.
But it has heard that Sinodinos, a respected chief-of-staff to former prime minister John Howard, was paid Aus$200,000 a year plus bonuses at AWH for just 100 hours of work.
 


Australian state premier quits over wine gift ‘memory fail’ 

File photo of Australia's New South Wales state Premier Barry O'Farrell from November 2012. Photo: Reuters

Penfold's Grange, a wine worth around HK$21,822 per bottle, but unmemorable to O'Farrell. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

News

Asia

Barry O'Farrell, Liberal Party leader of New South Wales, resigns after learning thank-you note he signed for bottle of fine wine he denied receiving would be presented at inquiry
