Chinese billionaire named in parliament as co-conspirator in bribing former UN official

A BILLIONAIRE Chinese-born Australian political donor has been named in parliament by Government MP Andrew Hastie as a co-conspirator in bribing a former United Nations official.

Government MP Andrew Hastie in Parliament House on Tuesday. Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas

A BILLIONAIRE Chinese-born Australian political donor has been named in parliament as a co-conspirator in bribing a former United Nations official.

Government MP Andrew Hastie on Wednesday night used parliamentary privilege to claim Dr Chau Chak Wing was the figure codenamed CC-3 by the FBI in the bribery investigation, and that he had close links with the Chinese Communist Party.

He aired the allegations because Dr Chau was “a person who has featured prominently in Australian politics over the past decade”.

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Mr Hastie, the chair of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security, said the identity of CC-3 was confirmed to him by American authorities last month.

He tabled US State Department cables and a court indictment which he said demonstrated Dr Chau’s involvement in the six-figure bribe to former UN general assembly president John Ashe in 2013. Mr Hastie alleged Dr Chau had been acting in concert with Sheri Yan, who was convicted for her involvement.

He told parliament she was married to a former senior figure in Australia’s Office of National Assessments, had close links to Australian political leaders and had been raided by ASIO officers in 2015 who found a cache of classified government documents.

Dr Chau has pursued legal action over previous reports of the allegations and denied links to both the Chinese Communist Party and the scandal.

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