ICAC probe: Man said to have donated $5000 to NSW Labor denied giving money to party

A man feared his boss might “hire’’ someone to hurt him if he didn’t go along with a scheme to falsely use his name for a donation to Labor.

NSW Labor general secretary Kaila Murnain. Picture: Adam Taylor

A Sydney-based employee of a Chinese property developer feared his boss would “hire some scoundrel to hurt me” if he did not go along with a scheme to falsely use his name for a $5000 donation to the NSW Labor Party.

MORE: Kaila Murnain ‘can’t recall’ cash donation details

Steve Tong told the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption today that he was “dumbfounded” and “very angry” when he received an invoice saying he had donated money to the ALP at a Chinese Friends of Labor event in March 2015.

Mr Tong, a project manager for a Chinese-owned company Wu International at the time, said he had no interest in politics and did not attend the Labor fundraising dinner held in Sydney’s Chinatown a fortnight before that year’s state election.

He said Leo Liao, his then immediate boss, and Alex Wu, the Sydney-based son of Wu International’s Chinese owner Bobby Wu, told him when he raised the issue that his name had been used to make the $5000 donation.

Despite being angry and upset, he said he went along with the idea because he thought he would lose his job and company bosses would “take revenge” if he refused. The revenge could have included hiring a “scoundrel” to hurt him.

Mr Tong, now retired, was giving evidence at an ICAC hearing that is investigating whether one or more “straw” donors were behind the March 2015 fundraising event that received more than $100,000 in donations — and not the many individual donations of $5000 as stated on NSW ALP declaration forms.

The ICAC heard earlier in the week that billionaire Chinese property developer Huang Xiangmo allegedly walked into the NSW ALP’s headquarters several weeks after the dinner fundraiser and gave then party secretary Jamie Clements an Aldi shopping bag stuffed with $100,000 cash.

It was also revealed that Mr Tong’s immediate boss at Wu International, Laio, committed suicide last year shortly before he was scheduled to give evidence to ICAC at a private compulsory examination ahead of public hearings.

According to NSW ALP documents obtained by the ICAC, the party banked two donations of $5000 in the names of Liao and Mr Tong with a NSW party entity called “Country Labor” after the March 2015 fundraiser.

Under NSW electoral funding laws operating at the time, it was illegal for property developers to donate to political parties. The legal cap for individual donations was set at $5000 — allowing for small increases linked to CPI.

Kaila Murnain, who was the deputy to Mr Clements in 2015 and now holds his former position as NSW general secretary, is alleged to have seen the Aldi bag after it arrived in the party’s Sydney headquarters in April 2015, according to a witness’s evidence yesterday.

Ms Murnain is scheduled to give evidence today. Senior ALP and union officials anticipate that she will resign from her position as the electoral funding crisis engulfs the party organisation.

Mr Tong confirmed under ICAC questioning today that he did not sign a Chinese Friends of Labor invitation form in 2015 pledging a $5000 donation — despite the document carrying a signature that looked like his. Nor did he attend the event or donate any funds, he said.

He had a “habit” of keeping a copy of all documents he signed, and he did not have one of the signed ALP invitation forms pledging $5000.

Mr Tong said the donation really came from the Wu International’s overall chief, Bobby Wu.

But he later “lied” and falsely signed a declaration to the NSW Electoral Commission saying he had donated the $5000 when it was conducting an initial investigation into ALP donations in 2016, before referring the matter to the ICAC.

He lied, he said, because he believed he had no choice. “I was told anything you do for the company, you just do it,” Mr Tong said through a translator.

He added that Laoi and Alex Wu told him that the company would care for him, including calling in a lawyer, if any issues arose relating to $5000 donated in his name.

“I was working for a Chinese company, for a Chinese boss, if you think anything differently you have to go,” he said.

Asked why he referred to former NSW Labor MP Ernest Wong in a letter to Wu International related to the falsely declared $5000 donation, Mr Tong said he thought Mr Wong could help with the problem.

“I knew Ernest Wong was very active in the Chinese community,” he said. “He is part of everything, and he is very close with Wu International — with the bosses and not small potatoes like myself — Bobby Wu, Alex Wu and Dr Liao.”

Mr Wong is scheduled to give evidence tomorrow and Friday.