Former NSW Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson admits he's known Eddie Obeid for 25 years but says he never knew he had a farm in the Bylong Valley or even where that was.
Mr Richardson, a former federal Labor minister, also reckons current Labor ministers have "bugger all" to do with another disgraced NSW Labor figure, Ian Macdonald.
Obeid and Macdonald face possible criminal charges after the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption on Wednesday found they acted corruptly.
The coalition called it a black day in the history of the Labor party and urged Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to come clean about all the dealings senior members of his government have had with the NSW pair.
Mr Richardson said the scandal must cause some damage to Mr Rudd.
But most of it was done during the course of the investigations, as revelations of misconduct emerged from ICAC, he said.
Mr Richardson said there was nothing wrong with being a NSW Labor powerbroker.
"I did plenty of that. That doesn't mean you are doing anything wrong. That is just part of politics," he told Sky News.
Mr Richardson said he knew nothing of Obeid's dealings, such as the granting of a lucrative mining lease on his family property in the Bylong Valley.
"If they are doing something that they don't want you to know about they don't tell you. I mean, I've known Eddie Obeid for 25 years and I didn't even know he had a farm in the Bylong Valley and I'd never heard of the Bylong Valley," he said.
Mr Richardson said Obeid's influence peaked under NSW premier Morris Iemma.
"His influence on the federal caucus was always nought," he said.
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