Global Courant 2023-04-17 11:20:29
SYDNEY – An Australian businessman has been denied bail after being charged with foreign interference for taking cash from suspected Chinese intelligence agents. A Sydney court said his close ties to China made him a flight risk.
Magistrate Michael Barko said Alexander Csergo was a “sophisticated, worldly businessman” who had been on Australian intelligence radar for some time before his arrest last Friday.
The prosecution had a strong case against Csergo, who had lived in China for decades, Mr Barko said in denying bail.
Csergo is said to have arrived back in Australia this year with a “shopping list” of intelligence priorities he had been asked for by two people he suspected since 2021 to be agents of China’s state security ministry, the court heard.
The pair were only named as “Ken” and “Evelyn” in court.
This shopping list had been discovered by Australian intelligence services, the court was told.
Csergo was reportedly asked to hand-write reports on Australia’s Aukus defense technology partnership with the United States and Britain, the Quad diplomatic partnership, iron ore and lithium mining, Mr Barko said.
A marketing executive, 55-year-old Csergo, was arrested Friday in the beachside suburb of Bondi and is the second person to be charged under Australia’s Foreign Interference Act, which criminalizes activities that help a foreign power to seize sovereignty. or disrupt Australia’s national interest. It carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Csergo appeared in court via video link from Parklea Prison, where he is being held as a maximum security prisoner. His mother and brother were in court.
Csergo had told Australian intelligence agents in an interview that when he met Ken and Evelyn in cafes and restaurants in Shanghai, the establishments were empty and he suspected they had been vacated, Mr Barko said.
He developed high levels of anxiety and was in “survival mode,” he had told Australian authorities.
Csergo had exchanged about 3,300 WeChat messages with the couple and had accepted cash payments in envelopes, Mr Barko said.
Mr Barko expressed concern for Csergo’s safety and said some people may not want him to testify against China.
