Bill Shorten and billionaire’s meeting not ‘quid pro quo’
Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo was granted access to Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten because he donated half a million dollars to the party but it was not in exchange for an alleged $100k cash donation, the corruption watchdog heard.
NSW
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A former NSW Labor boss says he arranged a meeting between Huang Xiangmo and then-federal leader Bill Shorten because the Chinese tycoon’s massive donations had bought him influence in the party — and proximity to power.
But Mr Shorten’s lunch with the billionaire was not “quid pro quo” in exchange for an alleged $100,000 cash donation, former state general secretary Jamie Clements told the corruption watchdog.
A slightly relaxed-looking Mr Clements faced a third and final day of questions at the Independent Commission Against Corruption over allegations Mr Huang handed him the cash in an Aldi shopping bag.
Mr Clements admits he met with Mr Huang in Labor’s Sussex Street office in April 2015, two days before the $100,000 was deposited into the party’s accounts, but denies the Aldi bag handover took place.
“I never received a bag with $100,000 in it — that’s completely untrue,” he told journalists outside the ICAC on Friday afternoon.
The chief’s account contradicts that of his former staffer, Kenrick Cheah, who earlier told the inquiry Mr Clements handed him the bag and asked him to count it and check donation forms.
Mr Cheah’s direct boss, Kaila Murnain, allegedly told the staffer to “be careful” with the cash when he decided to take it home at the end of the day.
“I don’t know if she knew how much was there, but she knew there was a sizeable amount of money I was taking home to keep safe, to bring back the next day,” Mr Cheah told the commission in August.
It was during the April 7 meeting that, Mr Clements reiterated on Friday, Mr Huang asked him to set up a meeting with Mr Shorten.
The Chinese magnate had not yet left the room before Mr Clements began making calls to set up the meeting, he said on Friday.
Under cross-examination Mr Clements was asked if it was usual for someone to “walk in off the street and ask to meet the leader of the ALP” without expecting some kind of exchange to take place.
“It depends on who the person making the request was I suppose,” Mr Clements said.
When asked why he was willing to advocate for the meeting between Mr Shorten and Mr Huang, Mr Clements pointed to a massive donation a few years earlier.
“He’s donated half a million dollars to the 2013 election campaign and was the sort of person who could donate that or more in the future,” he said.
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Chief Commissioner Peter Hall QC asked if big donors had enough influence to secure meetings with party leaders.
“One of the benefits to the generous donor is, in effect, a price or amount paid for influence, is that right?” Mr Hall asked.
“Commissioner, I have to say that is correct,” Mr Clements said.
Mr Chea’s barrister, Tom Dixon, put it to Mr Clements that the Aldi bag of cash was a “quid pro quo” exchange for setting up the meeting.
“Absolutely not,” Mr Clements said firmly.
“The bag didn’t exist, there was no quid pro quo.”
Outside the ICAC Mr Clements said the influence of wealthy donors had caused issues for Labor.
“I think the donation system is something that leads, when there are big donations, to people being able to have access to all sorts of special treatment and I do think that’s a problem,” he said.
Mr Shorten, Mr Clements, Mr Huang and his translator would end up lunching together in the VIP room of one of the billionaire’s Chinatown haunts, Master Ken’s Seafood restaurant, weeks after the April meeting, the inquiry heard.
The federal party leader sent his staff some glasses of grande as they sat in an adjacent private room, Mr Clements recalled.
Mr Huang’s interest in Mr Shorten, the ICAC was told, was that he could help connect the Chinese businessman with Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews.
A delegation from China, which visited Victoria later in the year, appeared to be on Mr Huang’s mind, Mr Clements said this week.
It was put to Mr Clements, while he was in the witness box on Friday, that he had spent the inquiry minimising Mr Huang’s role to repay the exiled businessman.
“That’s absurd,” Mr Clements said.
He was accused of distancing himself from the responsibilities of his office in case it led to questions about his conduct.
“I don’t agree with that and I’m not suggesting Kaila is responsible for this,” he said.
He was also asked about attending the wedding of Mr Huang’s daughter with Mr Shorten, but noted “the Liberals were at a better table” than he and the then-federal Labor leader.
The ICAC, this week, heard Mr Clements had stepped aside from his role in mid-2015, some months after the infamous Chinese Friends of Labor fundraising dinner that allegedly precipitated Mr Huang’s $100,000 donation.
Police were investigating and Mr Clements had been hit with an apprehended violence order relating to sexual harassment allegations from a member of staff when Mr Huang asked him to visit his Mosman mansion.
Once there, in an upstairs room, Mr Huang handed Mr Clements $35,000 in cash to pay his legal fees, the inquiry heard.
The charges never eventuated against Mr Clements but, at the time, he says he took the money partly because he was never going to go back to his job.
The commission was planning to hear evidence from Lower House MP Ernest Wong, who set up the Chinese Friends of Labor dinner and was a close friend of Mr Huang.
But that is now expected to happen when the inquiry resumes in December instead.