Australian court passes first ever sentence for espionage
Kyiv • UNN
Melbourne resident Di Sanh Duong was found guilty of spying for China, the first under Australia's 2018 Foreign Interference Act, and faces up to 10 years in prison.
An Australian court has found a Melbourne resident guilty of a Melbourne resident who had previously held senior positions in Chinese positions in Chinese public associations. This is the first conviction under the new law on foreign interference adopted in 2018. This is stated in the court's decision, UNN reports .
Details
It is noted that a former member of the Liberal Party, Di Sanh Duong. was suspected by the Victoria State Police of planning or preparing an act of foreign interference back in 2020.
Prosecutors said Di Sanh Duong was in constant contact with Chinese intelligence and attempted to influence Australian high-ranking official Alan Tudge, to further the interests of the Chinese Communist Party, a charge he has has denied.
The Victorian court found him guilty after a lengthy deliberation and after hearing a lot of evidence, and now the man faces up to ten years in prison. in prison.
Addendum
In June 2020, Duong made a donation of in the amount of 37,450 Australian dollars (25 thousand US dollars) to the Royal Melbourne Hospital - during the COVID-19 quarantine, and deliveries of essential medical equipment were infrequent and difficult.
Duong then solemnly handed the check to then federal minister Alan Taj in front of the media to the then federal minister Alan Taj, and then handed it over to the to the hospital's CEO. However, federal prosecutors argued that this was was far from a gesture of goodwill. Instead, they claimed that Duong was trying to to influence the Australian government official in this way, hoping that Taj could become prime minister in the near future.
For reference
Duong was a prominent businessman in the Chinese-Australian community and headed the local community and headed a local association, the Federation of Chinese Organizations Oceania from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos". According to federal prosecutors, he was was also involved in another organization that was registered with an agency of the Chinese Communist Party.
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