The NSW election watchdog has quietly reopened an investigation into allegations that NSW Premier Chris Minns conspired to evade state donations laws.
The NSW election watchdog has quietly reopened an investigation into allegations that Premier Chris Minns conspired to evade state donations laws, with at least two key witnesses already questioned in secret.
The ABC can reveal former NSW Labor staffers David Latham and Kenrick Cheah were summonsed and then questioned by the NSW Electoral Commission over the allegations. The allegations relate to a 2014 fundraising dinner held at the Sunny Seafood restaurant for Mr Minns, the then-Labor candidate for the state seat of Kogarah.
Former ALP state organiser Mr Latham sparked the renewed interest in the dinner in November, when he tendered an affidavit to a parliamentary inquiry which alleged Mr Minns had accrued thousands of dollars in unreceipted donations and wanted to get them into his campaign coffers anyway. Mr Cheah is the former community relations director for NSW Labor and was involved in organising the dinner. He also declined to comment for this story.
The ABC can also reveal that the NSW anti-corruption agency, ICAC, was told by Mr Latham about the allegation against Mr Minns in April 2019 but failed to pass on the information to the electoral commission — which was at the time investigating the matter. It was only after Mr Latham's allegation was provided to the parliamentary inquiry in November that the ICAC went back, got the transcript of Mr Latham's April 2019 evidence, and gave it to the electoral commission.
The failure meant that a key allegation against one of the state's most powerful politicians was unable to be properly investigated by the electoral commission, which has responsibility for the regulation of political donations. It is likely that other key players such as former upper house member and the power behind CFOL, Ernest Wong, as well as the political aspirant and convener of CFOL, restaurateur Jonathan Yee, either have been or will be interviewed by the electoral commission.
Neither replied to the ABC's requests for comment. AAP: Joel CarrettOn Thursday morning, Mr Minns declined to confirm if he had been interviewed, saying he could not comment on ongoing investigations.
"I absolutely reject any suggestion that I've committed any offence in relation to this or any other electoral matter," he told a press conference. "More specifically, I specifically reject any suggestion of phone conversation with an individual suggesting that I was part of some conspiracy relating to donations.
"The Sunny Seafood dinner, described in a subsequent donations declaration as raising less than $6,000 from 10 donors,The electoral commission initially investigated the alleged Sunny Seafood conspiracy between 2019 and 2023 but did not make its findings public. Last year, the parliamentary inquiry heard that two unnamed people had been referred by the electoral commission to the NSW prosecutor's office over the matter.
The ABC can reveal that a further two unnamed people have since been referred, taking the total number of people who may face charges over the scandal to four. Once Mr Latham's allegation was made public, the electoral commission, which had not been alerted by the ICAC to Mr Latham's evidence, elected to reopen the investigation. ABC News: Nick DoleThe evidence kept from the electoral commission is a transcript of an April 2019 interview with Mr Latham by ICAC investigators.
The transcript contains an allegation that soon after the Sunny Seafood dinner, Mr Minns called Mr Latham and said he had a "bunch of cash" from the event that had not been recorded properly and wanted to know how to "get it in" to his campaign coffers, All donations to Australian politicians must name the donor in order to allow public oversight of those seeking to influence Australia's political system. Attempts to evade laws enshrining that principle can be a crime.mentioned ICAC's failure to pass on the information in parliamentThe ABC has established that it did occur.
The ABC spoke to two people with knowledge of the matter and confirmed that ICAC undertook the interview with David Latham in April 2019 and created a transcript. It is unclear why ICAC did not provide the transcript to the electoral commission, and it declined to respond to questions asked by the ABC.
David Latham's allegation about Mr Minns only became public last year during a parliamentary committee which was investigating concerns the electoral commission had not undertaken a thorough investigation of the Sunny Seafood allegations. Last year the parliamentary inquiry heard that two unnamed people had been referred to the NSW prosecutor's office. Mr Minns has spent months saying the Sunny Seafood matter was "comprehensively investigated" by both the ICAC and the electoral commission years ago.
In truth, ICAC never had the remit to examine the Sunny Seafood allegations and the electoral commission, which did investigate the matter between 2019 and 2023, has taken the view it is prevented by legislation from discussing its findings and whether it considered Mr Minns a person of interest. The alleged electoral law breaches at the heart of the Sunny Seafood affair would never have been discovered were it not for an ICAC investigation into a similar alleged scheme at another CFOL fundraising dinner in the days before the March 2015 state election.
, examined whether a series of donations recorded as being given at the dinner by Sydney's Chinese community to NSW Labor and totalling $100,000 were in fact given by NSW property developer and alleged national security threat Huang Xiangmo, but disguised behind so-called straw donors. A Federal Court judge rules Chinese property developer Huang Xiangmo should declare his overseas assets as the ATO — which alleges the billionaire has an unpaid $141 million tax debt — closes in.
A straw donor is someone who states a political donation is theirs while knowing that is not true. It is a crime under NSW electoral finance law to make such a statement. Included among them were about a dozen $900 cheques signed by the same people, but instead of being related to the March 2015 dinner, they were made out to "ALP Chris Minns". At the time, donations of $1,000 or over had to be declared to the electoral commission.
Operation Aero held public hearings in late 2019. During those hearings it was made clear by Chief Commissioner Peter Hall QC that those cheques fell outside the scope of ICAC's investigation. ICAC was not examining whether "Chris Minns had any involvement in the issue of the ALP Chris Minns cheques," he said.
"Whether or not there should be such an investigation into that question is a matter, at least in the first instance, for the NSW Electoral Commission and not for this commission. " ICAC ultimately found that the $100,000 was the property of Mr Huang, that he had delivered it to NSW Labor head office in a plastic Aldi shopping bag and there had been a criminal conspiracy to use the money. ICAC referred people involved to the NSW prosecutor's office.
It has yet to lay any serious charges.evidence was given by Mr Yee that indicated the Mr Minns cheques were part of an almost identical attempt to circumvent electoral finance law by people including, at least, himself and Mr Wong.
"What did you understand his purpose was in proposing such a scheme? " Mr Hall asked Mr Yee. "I believe that it will be the $900 will fly under the $1,000 cap, so particular declarations to the NSW Electoral Commission would not be necessary, but at the same time it will be hiding whoever that particular donor or group of donors would be," Mr Yee said. "Plus, whoever made those particular donations," Mr Yee said.
"Yes, yes, Commissioner," Mr Yee said. "And also to conceal the true identity of the donor. Is that right? " counsel assisting Scott Robertson asked.
Investigation Chris Minns Icac Investigation Premier Chris Minns State Donation Laws Sunny Seafood Sunny Seafood Chris Minns David Latham Kenrick Cheah NSW Electoral Commission ALP's Chinese Friends Of Labor NSW Anti-Corruption Agency ICAC Electoral Commission NSW Ernest Wong Restaurateur Jonathan Yee Sunny Seafood Dinner Parliamentary Inquiry Sunny Seafood Allegations Operation Aero Huang Xiangmo
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