A close friend of Daryl Maguire has told a corruption probe that the former NSW Riverina MP asked him to "delete any records" as his political career collapsed to prevent documents being viewed by a future inquiry.
In his second day in the Independent Commission Against Corruption witness stand, Phillip Elliott said Mr Maguire contacted him in July 2018, soon after quitting the Liberal Party, to discuss their G8wayinternational business in Wagga Wagga.
Counsel assisting ICAC Scott Robertson asked Mr Elliott if Mr Maguire gave him "any advice as to anything you should do in light of what had happened during the course of his appearance before this commission" two years ago, which also forced him to resign from Parliament.
"To remove any records that I may have had," Mr Elliott responded.
Mr Elliott went on to clarify that Mr Maguire used "words to the effect of 'delete any records', and I don't know whether it referenced G8way or our records or something along those lines".
"The gist of what he was saying to you, as you understood it was delete things associated with G8wayinternational?" Mr Robertson asked.
"That would be right," Mr Elliott responded. "I deleted or tried to delete any emails and spreadsheets and so forth."
Mr Elliott is the listed director and sole shareholder of G8way, but conceded to ICAC on Monday that Mr Maguire was "effectively a director".
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ICAC also heard claims that G8way had been used to run a cash-for-visas "scam" involving fake jobs across the Riverina for Chinese nationals seeking permanent residence, as well as seeking import commissions.
Mr Robertson put it to Mr Elliott that he deleted G8way records "with a view to assisting Mr Maguire in preventing those documents coming to the notice of this commission, do you agree?"
"Yes," Mr Elliott responded, before conceding "with hindsight" that his actions to destroy documents would have also been an attempt to protect himself.
"Even without the benefit of hindsight, you knew what Mr Maguire was asking you to do was a very serious matter, do you agree?" Mr Robertson said.
"I know now but I didn't consider it at the time," Mr Elliott responded.
Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl asked Mr Elliott is his actions aimed to "deflect this commission from finding out the truth".
"Yes," Mr Elliott replied.
Mr Elliott was repeatedly challenged on Tuesday about whether he has being "truthful" before ICAC and responded that he thought he was.
Mr Elliott agreed with Mr Robertson's assertion that Mr Maguire delayed retirement from Parliament at the 2019 election as he "needed money for a range of reasons".
In response to questions about an intercepted phone call in 2017, Mr Elliott said Mr Maguire had a "debt level" of "up around $1 million" to pay out his ex-wife during a divorce.
"He would have needed to borrow money for the divorce settlement," Mr Elliott told the hearing.
