Aldi bag scandal: ICAC finds former NSW Labor MP ‘corrupt’

The NSW corruption watchdog has published an explosive report into $100,000 worth of political donations stuffed into an Aldi bag.

A former NSW Labor MP has been accused of serious corruption over his role in a scheme to hide the source of a $100,000 donation to the party.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption found former upper house MP Ernest Wong engaged in serious corrupt conduct when he tried to obscure who was behind the cash.

He also misused his parliamentary privileges by trying to convince witnesses to give false evidence to the ICAC, the watchdog said.

NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns said it was a troubling report.

NSW Labor leader Chris Minns said it was a “tough and troubling report” and that the party had since taken steps to clean up its act.

“We obviously face a big task to rebuild the trust in the run-up to the (2023) NSW election, and we’re determined to do that,” Mr Minns told reporters.

The ICAC’s report on Monday caps a four-year investigation into the donations scandal.

It said the true source of the 2015 donation was businessman Huang Xiangmo, who took the funds from a junket account at the Star Sydney casino.

The ICAC also said it would seek advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions on whether criminal charges could be laid.

Former Labor MP Ernest Wong could face criminal charges. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Public hearings held as part of the inquiry in 2019 exposed extraordinary evidence cash had been delivered to Labor headquarters in an Aldi plastic bag.

The scheme was carried out to circumvent laws that cap donations at $5000.

In order to accept the $100,000, Mr Wong arranged with a Sydney restaurateur to procure “five to 10 people” who would sign forms falsely identifying them as legal donors.

Each person would state they donated $5000 each, to both NSW Labor and Country Labor, which were registered as separate parties at the time.

Ernest Wong tweeted this picture from the fundraising dinner.

The ICAC said 12 people signed the false declarations.

The donations were made in connection with a dinner held at the Eight Modern Chinese Restaurant in Sydney’s Haymarket neighbourhood in March 2015 during the run-up to the 2015 state election.

The NSW Electoral Commission later looked into the donations and referred the matter to the ICAC in January 2018.

In September that year, Mr Wong met with one of the people who had claimed to be donors in his Parliament House office and attempted to persuade him to lie to the ICAC.

Mr Minns, who spoke to reporters on a Zoom call from his Kogarah home where he was isolating as a close Covid-19 contact, said the Labor Party still supported the work of the ICAC.

“I want to say that NSW Labor supports the ICAC not because it investigates our political opponents, but because it investigates us,” he said.

“We support its continued independence.”