Former MP says he was handed bag of cash before Labor fundraiser
Phone records show former NSW Labor MP Wong allegedly called exiled Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo, ALP staffer Kenrick Cheah and Emperor’s Garden restaurant owner Jonathan Yee within an hour of meeting with dumped ALP boss Kaila Murnain out the back of NSW Parliament.
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Phone records show former NSW Labor MP Wong allegedly called exiled Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo, ALP staffer Kenrick Cheah and Emperor’s Garden restaurant owner Jonathan Yee within an hour of meeting with dumped ALP boss Kaila Murnain out the back of NSW Parliament.
Ms Murnain has alleged a “sweating” Mr Wong told her at the meeting that a donor from the Labor fundraising dinner had complained they were not the real donor and that, in fact, Mr Xiangmo was the real donor.
Mr Wong rejected this assertion and denied he had indicated the true source of the donor was Mr Xiangmo.
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However, he said he had mentioned Mr Xiangmo’s name at the time to let Ms Murnain know Mr Xiangmo had delivered the money to Labor head office to avoid any “embarrassment”.
Phone records tendered as evidence show Mr Wong called Mr Cheah, Mr Yee and Mr Xiangmo in the space of an hour after meeting with Ms Murnain on September 16, 2016.
Counsel assisting Scott Robertson asked: “I want to suggest the reason you called those three people is the meeting you had with Ms Murnain wasn’t about Dr Liao at all but rather you were telling Ms Murnain the true source of some of the funds … was Mr Huang – do you accept that or not?”
Mr Wong denied the suggestion.
Mr Wong previously told the inquiry Dr Leo Liao, a developer at Wu International, had contacted him informing him the electoral office had called in retired Chinese property developer Steve Tong who was unable to produce documents to support his political donation.
Mr Wong said Mr Liao had lent the money to Mr Tong but that Mr Tong had returned the money.
He added there was some confusion around the conversation with Dr Liao who was “whispering in my ear”.
Asked about Ms Murnain’s demeanour during the meeting out the back of NSW Parliament, Mr Wong said: “Quite frankly it’s very dark and late evening — I would not be able to see if she was upset or if she was sweating”.
Former MP ‘compared notes’
Earlier, Mr Wong was accused of “comparing notes” with close friend Mr Yee on the ICAC investigation into the Chinese Friends of Labor dinner while on a trip to China last year.
ICAC is investigating whether “straw donors” or false donor names were put down by the ALP to cover up a massive $100,000 cash donation by Mr Xiangmo.
Mr Wong on Monday said he “did not discuss anything in detail” concerning the investigation while in the Chinese province of Guangdong with Mr Yee in November and December.
This is at odds with evidence tendered to the corruption inquiry, which showed notes from an iPhone on 29 November that investigators alleged followed a discussion between Mr Wong and Mr Yee.
One of the points written was “memories of the dinner on 12/3/2015” while another said: “Target subject ... any entity is donating more than the capped amount”.
Another “target subject” identified in the notes was “any of the donors are donating on Belfast of prohibited donors namely Huang or others”.
Asked if he discussed whether one of the targets of the inquiry was prohibited donors, Mr Wong said: “I really did not recall if we had a discussion as such, we had a very broad discussion in relation to the whole situation, the issues, in particular the Chinese community’s response to it”.
Mr Wong also said he didn’t understand the reference to Belfast or prohibited donors.
“I don’t even recall what that is, I don’t even understand what that is,” he said.
Earlier Mr Wong has told the ICAC he was handed a “big bag” of cash several days before a Labor fundraising dinner.
Wong handed ‘big bag’ of cash
Mr Wong on Monday said he met with an employee of the Emperor’s Garden restaurant where he was handed a “big bag” of cash several days before the Labor fundraising dinner.
Mr Wong said he knew in advance that owner Mr Yee was intending to arrange donations ahead of the event but did not know specifically who the donors were.
He said he met with a woman named Theresa several days before the event who offered him a bag of cash.
“She did say look, Mr Wong I would like to donate to support you and I think she handed, she gave me a big bag of … the money but I said look you better give it to Jonathan because I don’t want to handle the money,” he said.
Asked who the woman was, Mr Wong said: “I think she was a cashier.”
Mr Robertson asked: “She offered you that bag of cash, is that right?”
Mr Wong replied: “Yeah I think you can say that, yes.”
Mr Wong said he did not ask how much money was in the bag but recalled it may have been of “paper” or “plastic” material.
He said it was his understanding that Mr Yee took the money away.
Mr Wong also accepted he asked NSW Labor’s community relations director Kenrick Cheah — a part-time employee at the time — to “write off” an invoice prepared by NSW Labor to a company called Sydney Today for $5000 in connection with the fundraising dinner.
After saying he could not recall asking NSW Labor to write off the invoice, Mr Wong was shown an email from Mr Cheah to NSW Labor financial controller Maggie Wang in relation to the invoice.
The email, which Mr Cheah wrote on July 2, 2015, read: “Please write this one off. Sorry. I can’t explain but Ernest explained it to me ages ago”.
Asked whether he told Mr Cheah the Sydney Today invoice should be “written off” because Labor’s accounts shouldn’t show Sydney Today owed any money to NSW Labor in connection with the 2015 dinner, Mr Wong said: “Probably a discussion rather than an instruction as such … I have discussed that with Kenrick’.
The $5000 was allegedly transferred to Friends of Chinese Community, which is not an official ALP entity.
Mr Wong said he obtained the consent of Sydney Today to have the funds transferred to the organisation but did not keep a record of this.
“Since you reminded me that would be a right practice but I did not practice that at the time,” he said.
ICAC chief commissioner Peter Hall asked Mr Wong whether he thought it was “strange” that billionaire Mr Xiangmo was “in effect offering to act as a delivery man” when he personally dropped off a bag of cash to Labor’s Sussex St headquarters.
Mr Wong replied: “Not at all … he is someone who would like face.”
Asked whether he knew if Mr Xiangmo had done any delivery runs previously with the ALP or anyone else, Mr Wong said: “I’ve no knowledge at all”.
‘Are you making this up?’
Mr Wong’s evidence was called into question this morning with Mr Robertson at one point asking: “Are you making this up as you go along? It seems highly implausible”.
At the time Mr Wong was being questioned about giving a bag of cash to Mr Xiangmo and retaining a separate bag with disclosure forms.
Mr Wong responded: “I’m just trying to put all of my memories together the best that I can.”
Mr Wong also said he stood behind the evidence he gave on Friday despite being accused of lying to the inquiry on several occasions.
Mr Wong, now a partner in law firm Ernest Jasper Lawyers, organised the 12 March 2015 dinner and has denied selling the head table — where ALP bosses Bill Shorten and Luke Foley sat — for $100,000 to Huang.
But Mr Wong’s email chains and budget spreadsheets obtained by ICAC show the table, at the Eight Restaurant, was taken for $100,000.
Mr Wong told the inquiry Mr Xiangmo brought home a bag of cash from the dinner allegedly containing tens of thousands of dollars from the event while he brought home a separate bag containing political disclosure forms.
Pressed on why he would separate the bags and allow Mr Xiangmo to take one home when it was his job to reconcile donations, Mr Wong said he’d “had a few drinks” and Mr Xiangmo was near the head table at the time.
“It was very late in the night where I was, I’d had a few drinks … but I did see a big bag of cash where I don’t want to handle any cash as an elected member,” he said.
“So I asked if anyone could it take it back to the office, Mr Huang offered, I said fine.”
Mr Wong alleged Mr Cheah had already left when Mr Xiangmo offered to cart the cash home and deliver it to then NSW Labor general secretary Jamie Clements.
“I did look around to ask if there was anyone from head office, I couldn’t see anybody, and then I said I need someone to take it back and Mr Huang offered,” he said.
Mr Wong also accepted he gave “false” evidence to the ICAC inquiry after denying he ever asked anyone to sign a disclosure form saying they had donated a sum of money when he knew they had not in fact done so.
An email tendered to the inquiry from September 25, 2014 — titled “Chris Minns raffle money” — showed Mr Wong suggesting to a man named Dominic Sin that he should sign a donation form regardless of whether it was his cash or not.
The email read: “Dominic, since this money will go to Chris campaign, if you (sic) donation to chris has not gone over $2200, can you sign the form that you are the donor of that amount of money? Thanks”.
Mr Robertson asked Mr Wong: “Your answer a moment ago as I understood it is that you have never asked someone to sign a disclosure form in relation to a particular sum of money in circumstances where you knew that person had not donated or otherwise contributed that money.”
“I want to suggest to you that by giving that answer you’re giving false evidence to this commission — do you agree with that or not?”
Mr Wong said he accepted the proposition.
ICAC also heard that following the dinner, Mr Wong used his NSW parliament scanner to allegedly scan registration forms to the dinner and seek two Wu International company employees to put their names down as having donated $5000 in cash each.
The email chain was addressed to Dr Leo Liao, who worked for Wu International. ICAC heard he committed suicide before he was due to undergo a compulsory examination before the inquiry.
Last week, ICAC heard from his work colleague Steve Tong who said he was very angry to discover his name had been put down for a donation he said he had never made.