Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s first trial to test foreign interference laws has resulted in a guilty verdict over a $37,000 hospital donation.<\/p>\n
Victorian businessman Di Sanh Duong, 68, faced a month-long jury trial in Melbourne\u2019s County Court, accused of preparing for or planning foreign interference.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Di Sanh Duong outside court in Melbourne in May 2022.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>David Estcourt<\/cite><\/p>\n He became the first person charged under federal laws created in 2018 that ban covert foreign interference in domestic politics.<\/p>\n Prosecutors argued at the trial that Duong planned to gain political influence by cultivating a relationship with former federal multicultural affairs minister Alan Tudge on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.<\/p>\n He did so by arranging for Tudge to receive a $37,450 donation on behalf of the Royal Melbourne Hospital, money he had raised as president of the Oceania Federation of Chinese Organisations, the jury was told.<\/p>\n Duong started raising the money for COVID-19 supplies, including gloves and masks, to be exported from China, but he was unable to secure shipment and instead handed over a cheque.<\/p>\n Duong appeared at a press conference held by then federal minister Alan Tudge and presented a $37,450 cheque to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n Commonwealth prosecutor Patrick Doyle, SC, told the court the Communist Party would have seen Duong, a former Victorian Liberal Party candidate and Chinese community leader, as \u201can ideal target\u201d to work as an agent for its United Front Work Department.<\/p>\n \u201cA main goal of this system is to win over friends for the Chinese Communist Party; it involves generating sympathy for the party and its policies,\u201d Doyle said.<\/p>\n He said during the trial that Duong told an associate he was building a relationship with Tudge, who \u201cwill be the prime minister in the future\u201d and would become a \u201csupporter\/patron for us\u201d.<\/p>\n Tudge\u2019s office organised a media opportunity at which a novelty cheque was handed over at the hospital in June 2020.<\/p>\n The former minister told the trial he was concerned about \u201cugly racism\u201d faced by the Australian Chinese community after the pandemic took hold.<\/p>\n Duong pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations about foreign interference.<\/p>\n His barrister, Peter Chadwick, KC, said the donation was a genuine attempt by Duong to help frontline healthcare workers during the pandemic and combat anti-China sentiment.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fear of COVID hung like a dark cloud over the Chinese community in Melbourne,\u201d he told the jury.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s against this backdrop that Mr Duong and other ethnic Chinese members of our community decided that they wanted to do something to change these unfair perceptions.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the jury disagreed and returned a guilty verdict on Tuesday afternoon after more than a week of deliberations.<\/p>\n Duong will remain on bail with stricter conditions, including that he must report daily and cannot leave Victoria.<\/p>\n He will return to court for a pre-sentence hearing in February.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n