Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo loses court bid as ATO pursues him for $140m

Lawyers for exiled property tycoon Huang Xiangmo dealt defeat over his global assets.

Chinese businessman Huang Xiangmo is living in exile in Hong Kong. Picture: Renee Nowytarger

Lawyers for exiled Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo have failed in their bid to halt a Federal Court order to disclose his worldwide assets after the judge dismissed concerns the information could be used to launch “fresh investigations” into the property tycoon.

The failed bid follows a statement by Mr Huang on Wednesday in which he railed against “unknown dark forces” in Australia, including the Australian Taxation Office, which he claims is acting as a “despicable tool of political persecution” by pursuing him over a $140 million tax bill.

Lawyers for property tycoon appeared before Federal Court judge Jayne Jagot in Sydney on Thursday seeking a temporary stay to the disclosure order pending an appeal against the decision.

Mr Huang’s lawyer, Gerald Ng, said the court order directing Mr Huang to disclose his international assets to the ATO could place his client at “risk of irreversible prejudice”.

There were concerns, he said, the information gathered by the ATO could also be used to launch further civil or criminal investigations against Mr Huang either in Australia or by revenue agencies abroad.

Justice Jagot dismissed the application after the tax office said it would be constrained from using the information “for any other purpose other than this proceeding”.

“It is the absence of prejudice to the respondent which weighs most heavily on my mind against granting of the stay,” Justice Jagot said.

Mr Huang is a central figure in the NSW’s ICAC’s ongoing inquiry into donation rorts by NSW Labor.

He has been living in exile in Hong Kong since December 2018 after the Australian Government cancelled his permanent residency visa after ASIO raised security concerns.

Mr Huang – who has refused to cooperate with the corruption inquiry — launched his extraordinary attack on “representatives of the “deep state” in Australia” on Wednesday on his personal website.

In his statement he claimed the ICAC and sections of the media had made “concerted efforts” to cast him as a Chinese “agent of influence” without “even a hair of evidence for such [an] allegation”.

He said his visa had been revoked on “groundless allegations” and the ATO had then used its powers “for the purpose of political character assassination and persecution”.

The ATO’s attempt to seize his assets on the grounds of “unfounded claims’, he said, was “an egregious abuse of power that sends chills down my spine”.

Last month the Federal Court granted the ATO an urgent order freezing Mr Huang’s assets, including a $12.8 million Mosman mansion in his wife Jiefang’s name, as it pursues him for an allegedly unpaid tax bill of $140.9 million. The bulk of the tax bill was triggered by the sale of a mansion in Hong Kong in Mr Huang’s name.

Mr Huang has accused Australian politicians and media outlets of “telling tales about China and the Chinese” and questioned whether these attacks were any different from the racial and political slurs of “White Supremacists or the McCarthyites”.

He has also denied owing the “sensationally high amount” of tax being claimed by the ATO, insisting he had an “impeccable” tax record in Australia and no history of tax evasion anywhere in the world.

“The ATO is believed to be a professional government agency with some integrity but it really pains and saddens me that it has now surrendered itself to the pressure of some unknown dark forces,” Mr Huang said.