Property developer Alex Wood ‘helped hide cash’, ICAC hears

A property developer has been accused of acting as former NSW Labor MP Ernest Wong’s accomplice in covering up an illegal $100,000 cash donation to the ALP.

Alex Wood leaves the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption public inquiry in Sydney on Tuesday. Picture: AAP

A Sydney property developer has been accused of acting as former NSW Labor MP Ernest Wong’s accomplice “from the beginning” in covering up an illegal $100,000 cash donation to the ALP from Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo.

Wu International managing ­director Alex Wood was accused in the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption on Tuesday of helping Mr Wong hide the true source of the cash, and then blaming a since-deceased employee for the scandal.

ICAC’s chief commissioner, Peter Hall QC, said Mr Wood was part of Mr Wong’s plan to use the names of fake donors listed as giving amounts of $5000 and $10,000 to disguise a single cash amount from Mr Huang, banned as a property developer under NSW laws from donating to parties.

Mr Hall told Mr Wood, also known as Alex Wu, that he “took control” in persuading two Wu International employees, Leo Liao and Steve Tong, to stick with false stories they donated money when they gave none.

The ICAC chief suggested Mr Wood applied so much pressure on his employees that their lives were “turned upside down”.

At the start of ICAC’s investi­gation into the true source of the $100,000 donation in late August, it was revealed that Liao, formerly Mr Wood’s deputy at Wu Inter­national, committed suicide last year. He left a note linking his death to worry and stress over the donations scandal.

Mr Tong, a now retired former Wu International project manager, became deeply upset and angry when he learned his name was used without his knowledge to declare a donation he never made.

He later played a vital role in exposing the donations scandal by refusing to go along with the plan and taking assiduous notes of ­alleged efforts by Mr Wood and Mr Wong to pressure him.

Mr Hall told Mr Wood: “You were involved in Mr Wong’s plan.”

The 36-year-old property developer, who heads the Australian arm of his China-based father’s company at Chatswood on Sydney’s north shore, vigorously rejected the allegation.

“One hundred per cent, absolutely, I am not in Mr Wong’s plan, scheme,” Mr Wood said.

He claimed Liao was responsible for declarations made to the NSW Electoral Commission by Wu International employees that were false, and said he learned of Mr Wong’s role only from newspaper reports .

Mr Hall: “Are you trying to blame Dr Liao because he’s passed away and he can’t defend himself?” “No,” Mr Wood replied.

Besides Liao and Mr Tong, the ICAC confirmed from earlier evidence that the cover-up involved the owners and low-paid staff of the Emperor’s Garden restaurant in Sydney’s Chinatown.

After initially sticking with false stories that they donated money at a Chinese Friends of Labor dinner in March 2015, all have since recanted and said they were pressured by Mr Wong to lie.

Mr Wood confirmed an unusual arrangement he had with Mr Wong as his declared “researcher” at NSW Parliament House with an access pass to enter the building.