Chinese political donations to be probed by Australian anti-corruption watchdog
- The inquiry will examine the links between New South Wales Labor figures and high-profile Chinese Communist Party-linked political donor Huang Xiangmo
- A report tabled last week suggested the offences under investigation were ‘punishable in most cases by prison terms’
The New South Wales anti-corruption watchdog will spend six weeks probing allegations of an illegal donations racket involving Labor, Chinese donors and “possible foreign influence in NSW electoral purposes”.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) formally announced on Wednesday that it would hold a public inquiry into donations NSW Labor received from the Chinese Friends of Labor and others.
It will examine whether the groups set up a scheme to “circumvent prohibitions or requirements” on political donations from January 2015 onwards.
A report tabled by the independent Icac inspector, Bruce McClintock, last week suggested the offences under investigation were “punishable in most cases by prison terms of up to two years and in one case … up to 10 years”. McClintock, who was responding to a Labor complaint about Icac’s conduct, revealed that investigators had spent months in early 2018 conducting preliminary inquiries into what they saw as “serious” allegations of foreign influence in “NSW electoral processes”.
The preliminary Icac investigations found: “There is evidence or reliable information to suggest the occurrence of the conduct referred, requiring a more complete investigation.”
It described the alleged conduct as “serious, involving two registered political parties being the ALP and the Country Labor party” and “complex, involving a large number of witnesses, including non-English-speaking witnesses”.
The allegations were also “of significant public interest, given its context in connection with possible foreign influence in NSW electoral processes”.