On Wednesday, the NSW ALP's barrister Arthur Moses, SC, told the ICAC that in light of the evidence before the inquiry the party "cannot be satisfied on any view at all" that the donors declared to the NSW Electoral Commission as the source of the $100,000 were the "true donors". The ICAC has heard evidence that 12 straw donors were used to mask the source of the money, including members of the Chinese community who have admitted they agreed to sign false donations declarations. Mr Moses said it appeared "an offence or offences" may have been committed relating to a scheme to circumvent the ban on developer donations. He said NSW Labor and Country Labor wrote to the Electoral Commission last week and said they would forfeit the $100,000, which had been held by Perpetual Trustees pending the outcome of the inquiry, and would submit amended donations disclosures omitting the donation. Under NSW electoral funding laws, if a person accepts an unlawful donation the full amount "is payable by that person to the state". Double the amount is payable if the person knew the donation was unlawful.

Loading The Electoral Commission confirmed yesterday the funds had been received. Mr Moses said "with the greatest of respect" to some of the witnesses before the ICAC, there had been "a lot of ... alternative facts and nonsense" put forward "to hide the true source of the donations". "The ALP accepts that this is a matter which should not have been allowed to get to this stage," he said. At the time of the donation, Jamie Clements was general secretary of the NSW Labor Party. He has yet to give evidence but his successor, Kaila Murnain, was suspended as party boss after giving evidence that she was told in 2016 that Mr Huang was the source of the donation.

Later on Wednesday, a former lawyer for NSW Labor, Holding Redlich partner Ian Robertson, returned to give further evidence about a meeting with Ms Murnain in 2016. Holding Redlich partner Ian Robertson, a former lawyer for the NSW Labor Party, outside the ICAC on Wednesday. Credit:Louise Kennerley Ms Murnain has told the ICAC she first learned Mr Huang had allegedly donated during a conversation with then-Labor MP Ernest Wong behind NSW Parliament House on September 16, 2016, and attended an urgent meeting that evening in Mr Robertson's CBD office to seek advice. She claimed Mr Robertson advised there was "no need to do anything from here, don't record this meeting, don't put it in your diary, forget the conversation happened with Ernest and I won't be billing you for this either". Mr Robertson strenuously denied giving that advice and said he would "never advise a client to behave in an unlawful manner".

Ms Murnain was a "very seasoned and experienced political operator" and "you don't need legal advice to know what to do with fake donations", he said. Mr Robertson said he believed the pair had met to discuss a separate "urgent" donations issue but he had "no actual memory" of the meeting. Under questioning from Ms Murnain's barrister, Ian Neil, SC, Mr Robertson said it was "very unusual" to meet with any client after hours on a Friday, and it was "relatively rare" to meet with Ms Murnain in general. Mr Robertson said he did not make a file note of the meeting and "the absence of any file note of it suggests that I didn't consider it to be particularly important". Mr Robertson agreed Holding Redlich "succeeded in obtaining work" from Mr Huang's Yuhu Group early last year.