A Melbourne businessman has become the first person found guilty of preparing or planning an act of foreign interference under recent federal laws, over a $37,000 hospital donation.
Di Sanh Duong, 68, faced a month-long jury trial in Melbourne’s county court after being the first person charged under the laws, created in 2018, which ban covert foreign interference in domestic politics.
Prosecutors argued at the trial that Duong planned to gain political influence with the former federal education minister Alan Tudge, on behalf of the Chinese Communist party (CCP).
He did so by arranging for Tudge to receive a $37,450 donation on behalf of the Royal Melbourne hospital in June 2020, money he had raised as president of the Oceania Federation of Chinese Organisations.
Tudge was not accused of any wrongdoing, and had told the trial that his office had organised a media event where a novelty cheque was handed over at the hospital in June 2020.
The former minister told the court he was concerned about “ugly racism” faced by the Australian Chinese community after the pandemic took hold.
Commonwealth prosecutor Patrick Doyle SC told the court that the CCP would have seen Duong, a former Victorian Liberal party candidate and Chinese community leader, as “an ideal target” to work as an agent for its United Front Work Department.
“A main goal of this system is to win over friends for the Chinese Communist Party, it involves generating sympathy for the party and its policies,” he said.
He said Duong told an associate he was building a relationship with Tudge, who “will be the prime minister in the future” and would become a “supporter/patron for us”.
Duong pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations about foreign interference.
His barrister, Peter Chadwick KC, said the donation was a genuine attempt by Duong to help frontline healthcare workers during the pandemic and combat anti-China sentiment.
“The fear of Covid hung like a dark cloud over the Chinese community in Melbourne,” he told the jury.
“It’s against this backdrop that Mr Duong and other ethnic Chinese members of our community decided that they wanted to do something to change these unfair perceptions.”
However, a jury disagreed and returned a guilty verdict on Tuesday afternoon after more than a week of deliberations.
Duong will remain on bail with stricter conditions, including that he must report daily and cannot leave Victoria.
He will return to court for a pre-sentence hearing in February.
