A man who the Labor Party claimed donated $5,000 at a Chinese Friends of Labor dinner has revealed he was forced to lie about ever donating the cash and never attended the event.
Describing himself as “a small potato”, retiree Steve Tong has told the Independent Commission Against Corruption that he had “no choice” but to lie because he feared his powerful employers would “take their revenge” if he did not follow orders.
The stunning allegations emerged at an anti-corruption hearing in Sydney that is probing allegations that a banned donor, Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo, was the real benefactor.
The inquiry will hear evidence from the current ALP secretary Kaila Murnain over allegations that Mr Huang dropped off a plastic Aldi bag filled with $100,000 after the fundraising dinner in March, 2015.
Speaking with the aid of a Cantonese interpreter, Mr Tong insisted that he had “no choice” but to follow the orders of his employers, Wu International, another property development company, when he lied on disclosure forms to the electoral commission about the $5,000 donation.
“I had no choice in that. I had already told a lie so I had to follow through with it,” he said.
“I was telling lies to the electoral commission. The company told me that if anything happened the company would take care of me.”
When Mr Tong was asked what he was worried about, he said he was concerned about his employment.
“Honestly? About losing my job. I was worried that they would take their revenge on me; hire some scoundrel,” Mr Tong said.
Mr Tong said the threat was implied and his employers did not say they would “hit you.”
Mr Huang, who has since had his Australian visa cancelled amid security fears because of his links with China, was a banned donor under NSW laws because he is a property developer.
On Monday, Counsel Assisting the Commission Scott Robertson also revealed that another alleged donor and Wu International employee, Dr Quanbao “Leo” Liao, committed suicide on the weekend before he was scheduled to give compulsory evidence to the ICAC.
The form Mr Tong signed listed him as a “major political donor” who had donated $5000 donated under his name at the Chinese Friends of Labor event in March 2015.
“But I had no choice,” he said.
“Dr Liao told me what to write and how to write, Mr Tong said.
Mr Tong also said that a former Labor MP Ernest Wong, who was helped to run the Chinese Friends of Labor was very close to his employers.
“He is very close with Wu International,” Mr Tong
“Of course with the boss, not with small potatoes like myself.”
The post I had ‘no choice’ but to lie about cash, donor tells ICAC appeared first on The New Daily.
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