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”.
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The watchdog began a full investigation, code-named Operation Aero, from June and about 10 officers descended on the NSW Labor headquarters with a search warrant in December, attracting widespread media attention. Icac has now examined financial records and internal Labor documents, and interviewed a series of witnesses.
The raid on Labor’s Sussex Street office angered the party, which was three months out from the state election. It formally complained to McClintock that the allegations had already been investigated “extensively” by the NSW electoral commission. The raid, Labor said, sought information already provided to the electoral commission.
Labor said the Sussex Street search may have been “for purposes other than the proper exercise of the Icac’s investigative powers and may amount to maladministration”.
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“Our clients are also surprised that the Icac would choose to issue the search warrant and the notices to produce approximately 11 months after the referral and three months prior to the NSW state election,” Labor’s lawyers wrote in their complaint. “In addition, our clients are concerned about the extensive media coverage of the Icac’s search of our clients’ premises and, in particular, the source from which the leak emanated.”
McClintock rejected Labor’s complaint, finding there had been no misconduct or maladministration, and refusing to initiate an inquiry into the source of a leak to the media about Icac’s raid.
The public hearing will begin on August 26, presided over by the chief commissioner, Peter Hall, and has been set down for six weeks.
