$100,000 Labor Party donation didn’t come from me, says Huang Xiangmo

Chinese property developer Huang Xiangmo has declared he is ‘not the source’ of a $100,000 cash donation that has sparked a corruptio­n inquiry.

Kaila Murnain leaves the inquiry in Sydney. Picture: AAP

Chinese property developer Huang Xiangmo has declared he is “not the source” of a $100,000 cash donation that has sparked a corruptio­n inquiry over alleged fake contributions to the NSW Labor Party.

A statement issued by a Chin­ese community website late on Thursday in the name of Mr Huang, who now lives in Hong Kong after being refused re-entry to Australia in December, quoted the billionaire businessman as saying­ he had “nothing to do” with the donation. He also was quoted as confirming that all donations he made were at the request of polit­ical parties, and were “declared in accordance with the law”.

According to the statement published by Today Media, a website previously used by Mr Huang for public comments, he said he also did not know any of the “straw donors” whose names were allegedly used to disguise that a $100,000 sum handed to NSW Labor came from him.

The statement, rated as most likely genuine by Australian Strat­egic Policy Institute analyst Alex Joske, would be the first public comments by Mr Huang on a scandal that has rocked the NSW ALP and already cost the job of its general secretary Kaila Murnain.

Ms Murnain agreed on Thursday that she had been “less than forthcoming” during a compulsory examination by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption in July when first asked what she knew about a ­donation involving Mr Huang.

She told the now-public ICAC hearing she had wanted to “do the right thing” when she returned “voluntarily” a month later for a second round of private ICAC evidence, in which she said she was told about a fake donation in ­September 2016 by then NSW Labor MP Ernest Wong.

ICAC counsel assisting, Scott Robertson, accused Ms Murnain of deliberately staying quiet about the meeting with Mr Wong in the dark at the back of NSW’s Parliament House and later trying to get ahead of a problem when it became­ clear damaging evidence was set to be aired.

Denying she was holding back her “full knowledge” of the ­scandal, Ms Murnain broke down, saying “I’ve never been through a process like this, and I have never been in court”. The NSW Labor general secretary, suspended by party officials and not expected to return, ­already risks possible criminal prosecution after admitting in ICAC evidence last week that she agreed to cover up a $100,000 cash donation allegedly made by Mr Huang.

Ms Murnain not only kept quiet about the scandal, in which the $100,000 cash was disguised by using the names of 12 people for $5000 contributions they did not make, but also misled the NSW Electoral Commission about the matter in a signed letter when it made initial inquiries.

The penalty for participating in schemes to circumvent state electoral laws is a maximum of 10 years’ jail. For giving “false evidence” to the ICAC, the penalty is five years’ jail.

Much of Ms Murnain’s evidence during her ICAC hearing appearance on Thursday focused on recollections of what she said about the donations scandal ­immediately after a very worried Mr Wong allegedly first told her on September 16, 2016.

While phone logs confirmed Ms Murnain called Mr Dastyari and did meet NSW Labor lawyer Ian Robertson at the MLC building in Sydney’s CBD on the evening of September 16, 2016, they indicate this meeting occurred before Mr Dastyari saw Ms Murnain.

While allowing the possibility she met Mr Dastyari twice that evening, which he disputed last week, Ms Murnain stuck with her “memory” that she saw the former senator beforehand, despite phone records indicating otherwise.

Phone logs also show Mr Wong called Mr Huang, who was banished from Australia in December as a security risk, at 7.51pm, after he met Ms Murnain. Ms Murnain also made a call to then NSW Labor leader Luke Foley before seeing Mr Robertson. Phone logs show Mr Dast­yari also called Jamie Clements, Ms Murnain’s predecessor and political foe, before­ Mr Dastyari saw her.

Ms Murnain broke down a second time on Thursday when Mr Ian Robertson’s barrister, Tony McInerney SC, accused her of lying and throwing his client “under the bus” to save herself by claiming he told her to “forget” about illegal donations.

She replied: “I am telling you the truth about what happened.’’