Huang Xiangmo has freezing order overturned despite $140m tax bill
A Chinese billionaire at the centre of an ICAC investigation into alleged dodgy cash donations to NSW Labor has won an appeal on his frozen assets after he left Australia with a $140 million tax bill.
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Exiled Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo has had a freezing order against his assets overturned by an Australian court.
The controversial political donor is currently at the centre of a massive anti-corruption probe after he allegedly funnelled $100,000 in donations to NSW Labor in contravention of donation laws.
He steadfastly denies any wrongdoing.
The scandal that embroiled some of the party’s biggest names continues to leave a heavy cloud over NSW Labor as the Independent Commission Against Corruption continues its investigation five years after Xiangmo allegedly handed over $100,000 stuffed in an Aldi bag.
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But Xiangmo hasn’t been here for the ICAC hearings, he left Australia to go to the People’s Republic of China in December 2018.
His wife, Jiefang Huang, left in September last year.
Xiangmo left while the Australian Taxation Office were auditing his vast fortune which includes substantial holdings in Hong Kong, China and a sprawling Mosman mansion in Sydney among other Australian assets.
The day his wife left the ATO handed down a tax bill for an eye-watering $140 million.
Five days later the ATO’s Deputy Commissioner convinced the Federal Court to issue freezing orders on Xiangmo’s global empire.
Xiangmo appealed as the courts ordered he pay the millions plus interest.
The tycoon’s appeal against the freezing orders also tried to overturn a court order that Xiangmo divulge his entire global fortune to Australian authorities.
The central argument of Xiangmo’s appeal was that the freezing order had no realistic prospect of being enforced in China or Hong Kong.
His lawyers cited two previous cases where the Hong Kong courts would not enforce, directly or indirectly those types of laws from a “foreign state” such as Australia.
The ATO acknowledged it was “not likely” but it wasn’t impossible either.
A panel of three justices of the Federal Court, on Monday, said that “sets the bar too low”.
“In our opinion, there must be a realistic possibility that any judgment obtained by the plaintiff (the ATO) can be enforced against assets of the defendant (Xiangmo) in the place to which the proposed order relates,” the justices wrote.
“We consider that a realistic possibility of enforcement in a foreign State is necessary.”
The court granted Xiangmo’s appeal, overturning the freezing order and the requirement for the billionaire to divulge his assets at the same time.
The ATO’s lawyers told the court either a stay of the order, delaying its enforcement, or another appeal are still on the cards.