Chinese billionaire allegedly made illegal political donation in Australia - corruption watchdog

A Chinese billionaire who sits on Hong Kong's election committee has been found by an Australian corruption investigation to have allegedly made a secret and illegal $100,000 political donation in the lead-up to a New South Wales state election. Property developer Huang Xiangmo allegedly delivered the money in a plastic shopping bag to the general secretary of the New South Wales (NSW) Labor party in April 2015, four days after the same amount was withdrawn from his Sydney casino junket account, a report by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Monday.

A Chinese billionaire who sits on Hong Kong's election committee has been found by an Australian corruption investigation to have allegedly made a secret and illegal $100,000 political donation in the lead-up to a New South Wales state election.

Property developer Huang Xiangmo allegedly delivered the money in a plastic shopping bag to the general secretary of the New South Wales (NSW) Labor party in April 2015, four days after the same amount was withdrawn from his Sydney casino junket account, a report by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Monday. The ICAC has sought advice from the public prosecutor on alleged offenses by 18 people involved in a corrupt scheme to hide the donation, centered on a fundraising dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Sydney where Huang sat with state and federal opposition Labor leaders.

ICAC said a Huang employee withdrew the $100,000 from his casino account several weeks after the dinner and a few days later Huang allegedly delivered it to the Labor party official. "Mr. Huang was the true source of the $100K cash," ICAC said.

Huang's lawyer, Timothy Unsworth, said in evidence to ICAC it was a coincidence that $100,000 was withdrawn from Huang's casino account days before Huang met the NSW Labor boss. He also said that Huang did not take the cash to the Labor meeting. Unsworth declined to comment to Reuters on the ICAC report.

The NSW Labor boss, who later went to work for Huang, told ICAC he met with Huang to discuss setting up a meeting with the federal Labor leader but denied a bag of cash was handed over. Political donations in NSW are capped at $5,000 and property developers are prohibited as donors.

The ICAC report found the $100,000 donation was corruptly hidden under the names of a dozen fake donors. One fake donor took his own life on the eve of being questioned by ICAC, the report said. Huang's company, Yuhu Group, has previously made large legal donations to both sides of politics in Australia.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has recently sought to run a scare campaign about Labor and Chinese political interference just months out from a federal election due in May 2022, prompting a rare statement from Australia's spy boss that he holds no concerns about Labor's candidates. VISA CANCELLED ON SECURITY GROUNDS

In 2019, as the ICAC conducted its investigation, Huang's Australian visa was canceled on security grounds and he was prevented from returning to his Sydney home. Huang, whose legal name is Huang Changran, is a resident of Hong Kong, where he is a member of the election committee, an elite group of 1,500 people that select the city's Chief Executive and nearly half of its legislature.

The body was enlarged from 1,200 to 1,500 members last year as part of an electoral overhaul to ensure only "patriots administer Hong Kong", documents from the city's electoral affairs commission show. Huang lives in a luxury, three-story semi-detached mansion overlooking the sea on the south side of Hong Kong island. Corporate records show he is still active in the business with a string of Hong Kong companies, including corporate filings from February this year.

Australia's High Court in December ruled the Australian tax office could seek to freeze Huang's worldwide assets, as it sought to recover A$140 million they claim he owes. A federal Labor senator, Sam Dastayari, was forced to resign in 2017 after warning Huang that Australian intelligence agencies were monitoring his phone calls.

Dastayari told the ICAC inquiry in hindsight he had "serious questions about whether or not Huang was, either directly or indirectly, an agent of influence for the Chinese Government". The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) referred to Huang's role as president of the Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China, a United Front group when recommending the Australian government cancel his permanent resident visa.

($1 = $1.0000)

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