ABC, Nine ‘defamed’ billionaire Australian-Chinese businessman Chau Chak Wing with ‘sexy’ ASIO angle, court hears

The ABC and Nine ‘failed to restrain tabloid instincts’ by portraying billionaire businessman as Chinese spy, court hears.

Dr Chau Chak Wing is suing the ABC and Nine, the owner of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, in the Federal Court. Picture: Chris Pavlich

The ABC and Nine have been accused of failing to restrain their “tabloid instincts” while they launched a concerted effort to convince “small-minded” Australians that billionaire Chau Chak Wing had “betrayed his country” and was a Chinese spy embroiled in a UN bribery scandal.

Dr Chau is suing the ABC and Nine, the owner of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, in the Federal Court over a joint investigation that accused the prominent political donor of bribing a UN official and acting as a double agent for the Chinese Communist Party.

On Tuesday, Bruce McClintock, SC, for Dr Chau, said the ABC had used “hokey, sinister music” and “darkened screens” to paint the billionaire property investor as an “international man of mystery” who donated “enormous” sums of money in a bid to influence politicians.

‘Couldn’t sleep for days’

Dr Chau, who gave evidence via an interpreter from Guangzhou, China, said he suffered a breakdown and couldn’t “eat or sleep for days” after the program aired in June 2017.

“I am a legitimate businessman and I would never do anything wrong to Australia,” he told the court. “My donations made in Australia were all public and transparent.”

The court was played the entire Four Corners episode on Tuesday before judge Steven Rares, who is presiding over the four day defamation trial.

Dr Chau, who has donated more than $20m to both Sydney University and University of Technology Sydney, claims the stories carried six defamatory imputations, including that he “betrayed his country” in order to advance the interests of China.

He said he was not a member of the Chinese Communist Party and had never attached “requirements” to the donations he made to political parties.

“Over all these years, all the things I’ve done for Australia, there wasn’t a personal agenda and I didn’t ask for anything back,” he said. “(The program) said I was a very corrupt businessman … it also said my donations in Australia were to serve China.”

Emails reveal ‘sexy’ focus

Mr McClintock said internal emails between ABC staffers revealed a producer had urged journalist Nick McKenzie to focus on the story’s “sexy” elements, including a secret “ASIO briefing” that allegedly involved Dr Chau.

“As so often happens in journalism of this sort, neither Fairfax or the ABC could keep their tabloid instincts under control,” Mr McClintock said.

“The program is full of mystery and intrigue and presents my client in many ways (including) as an international man of mystery who has some explaining to do.”

Four Corners is standing by the report and denies the program conveyed the claimed defamatory meanings, including that Dr Chau knowingly paid a $200,000 bribe to a senior UN official.

Mr McClintock said the ABC purposely misrepresented Dr Chau’s “purely philanthropic purposes” and prioritised “drama” over the legitimate issue of soft power.

“Small-minded people in this country like the ABC tend to think a benefactor like Dr Chau must require a tangible return, a quid pro quo,” he said.

“Ultimately, the program presents my client as exhibit A as one of the business leaders allied to Beijing.”

In December, the High Court refused the media outlets’ appeal to use truth as a defence, and ordered them to pay costs.

Last year, Dr Chau also won $280,000 in damages in a separate defamation case against The Sydney Morning Herald over a 2015 article.