Former New South Wales Labor Party general secretary Jamie Clements was seen with a shopping bag filled with A$100,000 (US$67,600 at the current exchange rate) in cash after meeting Chinese billionaire and banned donor Huang Xiangmo (黃向墨), the state’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) heard yesterday.
The commission yesterday began its inquiry into a complex and potentially unlawful donations scheme that the commission has heard may have helped to hide a A$100,000 donation from Huang, whose associations with property development prohibit him from giving money to political parties.
The inquiry heard that Huang had visited Labor’s Sussex Street headquarters in April 2015, weeks after a Chinese Friends of Labor fundraising dinner in Sydney.
That dinner was purported to have raised A$100,000 in cash from 12 donors, but ICAC is investigating whether they were so-called “straw” or fake donors.
Labor’s then-community relations director, Kenrick Cheah, said that he knew of Huang’s impending visit, but believed Huang was in “agriculture,” not property development.
Internal e-mails show Cheah knew Huang was a major donor.
Cheah said he did not thoroughly investigate Huang, but knew Huang was important.
“I would say that anyone who is rich is important,” Cheah said.
He watched Huang arrive at heaquarters and go to meet with Clements, but could not recall whether Huang was carrying anything.
A short time later, Clements came out of his office and handed him an Aldi bag, Cheah said, adding that the bag was filled with stacks of A$100 notes wrapped in elastic bags.
Cheah remembers Clements saying: “Here is some donation money and forms. Check the forms. If it is all OK, then give it to finance.”
The forms were reservations for the earlier Chinese Friends of Labor fundraising dinner and Cheah said there were about 20 separate forms from different donors.
ICAC Chief Commissioner Peter Hall asked Cheah why Huang would bring in a shopping bag full of money.
“If the cash came from multiple donors, can you explain to me, why Huang Xiangmo, said to be an extremely wealthy individual would be carrying cash in a shopping bag on behalf of donors? Can you explain that to me?” Hall asked. “Why would a man of his stature be undertaking such a task of a delivery man?
Cheah said he supposed that Huang wanted to look like “the big man” who could bring a lot of money.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel