Justice Elizabeth Fullerton, who presided over the case without a jury, heard from 38 witnesses in the year-long trial. Fullerton found that a conspiracy to ensure a mining licence was granted over Obeid’s property was proved beyond reasonable doubt. She found there was evidence that Moses Obeid had formed an agreement some time before May 2008 with Macdonald, and that Macdonald had then proceeded as minister for mineral resources to take steps to ensure that a mining exploration licence was granted covering Cherrydale Park. In what is likely to become the leading case on criminal conspiracy in NSW, Fullerton found that the conspiracy was proved because Macdonald had agreed “to do what he could in connection with the granting of a licence at Mt Penny and to further the economic interests of the Obeids”.