A billionaire Chinese-Australian businessman has been named under parliamentary privilege as the alleged ‘Puppeteer’ behind a foreign interference plot.
Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching alleged on Monday evening that influential property developer Chau Chak Wing is the man Australia’s spy network claims is behind a plan to secretly bankroll and manipulate election candidates.
Mr Chau has donated more than $4million to political parties in Australia since 2004 and given away a further $45million to Australian universities – including the University of Sydney, which has named a museum after him, and the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), which has has named its business school after him.
The business school is housed in a Frank Gehry-designed building after the leading businessman following a $20million donation.
During his annual threat assessment speech last week, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess revealed a plot by a foreign power to secretly fund political candidates to get them elected.
Influential property developer Chau Chak Wing (pictured) has been named as the alleged man Australia’s spy network claims is behind a plot to secretly bankroll election candidates
Mr Burgess refused to name the foreign government or identify any individuals or the elections involved.
But when he was quizzed at a Senate estimates hearing last night, Senator Kitching used parliamentary privilege to claim Mr Chau was behind the plot.
‘I am reliably informed that the puppeteer mentioned in your case study in your annual threat assessment speech given last week is Chau Chak Wing,’ she said.
‘I believe it to be Chau Chak Wing. Are you able to confirm that it is Chau Chak Wing?’
The spy chief refused to confirm the claim or comment on any speculation.
‘Senator as I said before, I will not comment on speculation of who is and who isn’t targets, in general or in specific, as you are asking me there,’ he said.
Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching used Parliamentary privilege to name Chau Chak Wing as a the man allegedly behind a plot to interfere with Australian elections
Chinese-born Mr Chau has previously been named in Parliamentary as an agent for the Chinese Communist Party when MP Andrew Hastie linked him to a UN bribery scandal.
Mr Hastie also used parliamentary privilege to claim Mr Chau funded a $263,000 bribe to the former president of the UN general assembly, John Ashe, in 2013.
The bribe was said to have been made on behalf of United Front, which is alleged to be a propaganda wing of the Chinese Communist Party.
Mr Burgess last week described The Puppeteer as someone with ‘direct and deep connections with a foreign government and its intelligence agencies’.
‘I can confirm that ASIO recently detected and disrupted a foreign interference plot in the lead-up to an election in Australia,’ he said last Wednesday.
‘I’m not going to identify the jurisdiction because we are seeing attempts at foreign interference at all levels of government, in all states and territories.
‘The puppeteer hired a person to enable foreign interference operations and used an offshore bank account to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars for operating expenses.
‘Secretly shaping the jurisdiction’s political scene to benefit the foreign power was considered a key performance indicator. It was like a foreign interference start-up.’
The employee identified candidates likely to run in the election who either supported the interests of the foreign government or who were assessed as vulnerable to inducement.
He was then said to have used relationships with politicians, staffers and journalists to select potential targets.
The landmark Frank Gehry-designed building at University of Technology Sydney is named after leading businessman Chau Chak Wing following a $20million donation
‘The puppeteer and the employee plotted ways of advancing the candidates’ political prospects through generous support, placing favourable stories in foreign language news platforms and providing other forms of assistance.’
The candidates had no knowledge of the plot.
‘Our intervention ensured the plan was not executed, and harm was avoided,’ Mr Burgess said.
Had some of the candidates been elected, he said, they would have been directed to hire particular staff who were agents of the foreign government, passing on information and potentially influencing the way the member voted.
On Monday night, Mr Burgess also confirmed that Labor candidates in the Federal election were not among those under investigation by ASIO.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese insisted he had no concerns and added: ‘The Director-General of ASIO has never raised any concern about any of my candidates.’
Mr Burgess said Monday: ‘Mr Albanese gave an accurate account of the conversation I had with him when he asked me that question.’