Ernest Wong rejects allegations before Icac that he betrayed the party and knowingly subverted donation laws

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Labor’s lawyers have accused a former state MP of betraying his obligations to the party by attempting to hide donations from a Chinese billionaire and banned donor, Huang Xiangmo.

Ernest Wong, a former NSW state MP, continued his evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption for a third day on Tuesday, where he was again accused of selling Bill Shorten’s table at a 2015 Labor fundraising dinner for $100,000 to Huang and later covering it up by having “straw donors” sign false donation records.

Throughout the day, Wong was accused of giving evidence that was a “sham”, “false and misleading”, “nonsense”, and a constructed story designed to fit with other evidence before the commission.

Wong has now been accused of lying on each of the three days he has appeared before the commission. The penalty for giving false and misleading evidence is up to five years’ imprisonment.

The Icac has heard evidence claiming Huang, banned from donating due to his property development links, dropped off $100,000 cash to NSW Labor headquarters in an Aldi shopping bag several weeks after the dinner.

Email records show Wong later arranged for individuals to sign pre-filled out donation records claiming to have given $5,000 to Labor. At least one man who signed such a record now says he never gave any money to Labor and was “dumbfounded” to be sent an invoice.

Wong also diverted $12,200 raised at the dinner to a bank account controlled by the Friends of Chinese Community group. Wong was a convenor of the group and a signatory to its bank account.

Arthur Moses, SC, representing Labor, accused Wong of betraying the Labor party and knowingly subverting the state’s donations laws.

“You were involved in a scheme to subvert the electoral funding laws of this state by hiding the true source of the donations, do you agree with that?” Moses said.

Wong rejected the suggestion, but Moses continued:

“And by doing so you betrayed your obligations to the Labor party … do you accept that?”

Wong also denied that assertion.

Former Labor MP denies telling key Icac witness to 'keep his mouth shut' Read more

Earlier, lawyers for the now-suspended NSW Labor boss, Kaila Murnain, asked Wong about his relationship with Huang. Huang is barred from donating in NSW due to his property developer links, but he remains a prolific donor elsewhere.

He has donated to Labor since 2013, the inquiry heard, the same year Wong took his seat in NSW’s upper house.

Huang, who has since been denied re-entry to Australia on character grounds, was the long-term chairman of a peak Chinese Communist Party-linked lobby group, the Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China. The former senator Sam Dastyari told the commission he now believed Huang may be an “agent of influence”.

Wong was asked whether he had “cultivated” Huang as a donor and political asset.

The pair spoke and met regularly, the commission has heard. Wong was asked whether he saw Huang as a “significant political asset” that he believed would help “secure your political future”.

“No, I never cultivated Mr Huang,” Wong responded. “As I said before it’s always the party officials or the members themselves who approach Mr Huang ... not me.”

Wong was then asked whether he was working to specific fundraising targets in 2015, set by Jamie Clements, the then NSW Labor general secretary. Initially he said he could not recall, but later agreed he was working to fundraising targets that Clements had set to fund the campaign of the state Labor MP Chris Minns. In later evidence, Wong clarified that he had “definitely not” worked to fundraising targets set by Clements for the Minns campaign.

Wong said he could not recall whether there was a $100,000 target on the night of the 2015 fundraising dinner. Murnain’s barrister, Ian Neil, SC, alleged Wong had needed Huang to help him reach the target.

“Definitely not, definitely not,” Wong said. “In all my previous fundraising … $60,000 is pretty easy for me to raise from the community. I wouldn’t ask Mr Huang to donate and I know he wouldn’t be able to donate.”

Wong’s evidence has now concluded, but the inquiry continues on Wednesday before chief commissioner, Peter Hall.