Former NSW Liberal MP Daryl Maguire will stand trial in September next year after pleading not guilty over an alleged cash-for-visas scheme while he was sitting in parliament.

The 65-year-old was charged in November 2022 and is accused of conspiring with migration agent Maggie Logan between about January 1, 2013 and August 25, 2015 to help non-citizens fraudulently obtain visas.

The full charge, read to Maguire at his arraignment in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court this morning, alleges he conspired “in connection with applications for visas permitting non-citizens to remain in Australia to cause to be furnished, for official purposes of the Commonwealth, documents containing a statement or information that was false or misleading in a material particular”.

Maguire replied: “Not guilty, your honour.”

As the parties worked to settle on a trial date, due to the availability of Crown prosecutor Sean Flood, Maguire’s barrister Gabrielle Bashir, SC, stressed that the allegation related to matters “that have really been going on for a long time” and events from 10 years ago.

“My client has been before commissions in the courts for a considerable period of time,” Bashir said. “There’s a public interest in having this matter finalised as soon as possible.”

Judge Timothy Gartelmann listed Maguire’s trial from September 1, 2025, as it was the first mutually available date, and he determined it was preferable for the Crown to retain the prosecutor briefed in the case. The trial has an estimate running time of three to five weeks.

Maguire was the Liberal member for Wagga Wagga from 1999 to July 2018 when he quit the party.

His secret relationship with former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian was revealed during Independent Commission Against Corruption hearings into Maguire’s business dealings while in parliament.

Logan has been charged with causing the delivery of documents with a false statement, an offence under the Migration Act. Her matter returns to the Local Court for a witness hearing in December.