The billionaire and political donor named in a parliamentary hearing as the “puppeteer” involved in a foreign interference plot has hit back, calling the claim “baseless”.
Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching on Monday night put to Australia’s spy agency boss Mike Burgess that the wealthy individual involved in the foiled plot to rig the upcoming election was Chau Chak Wing.
“I am reliably informed that the puppeteer mentioned in your case study in your annual threat assessment speech last week is Chau Chak Wing,” Senator Kitching said, using parliamentary privilege.
“I believe it to be Chau Chak Wing.
“Are you able to confirm it is Chau Chak Wing?”
Mr Burgess, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) director-general, declined to answer.
“Senator as I’ve said before, I will not comment on speculation of who is and who isn’t targets in general or specifically,” he said.
“I think it is unfair you ask me that question in public.”
On Tuesday afternoon Dr Chau issued a furious statement which labelled the claim by Senator Kitching as “baseless”.
“I am shocked and disappointed at the baseless and reckless claim made by Senator Kimberley Kitching during a Senate Estimates hearing on Monday,” he said.
“It is always unfortunate when elected representatives use the shield of parliaxjmtzywmentary privilege as a platform to vilify and attack Australian citizens without producing a shred of evidence.
“I am a businessman and philanthropist. I have never had any involvement or interest in interfering with the democratic election process in Australia.”
Dr Chau, who was last year awarded a large sum in a defamation case involving similar allegations, invited Senator Kitching to repeat her claim without parliamentary privilege.
“I invite Senator Kitching to show some courage and integrity by repeating her claim and revealing the sources she says she relied on, outside the parliament,” he said.
Mr Burgess first revealed that spies had plotted to rig an election during his annual threat assessment speech last week.
He said it involved a wealthy individual who he dubbed the “puppeteer” and the network sought to get candidates in positions of power before it was shut down.
“This case involved a wealthy individual who maintained direct and deep connections with a foreign government and its intelligence agencies,” he said.
“I’ll call this person ‘the puppeteer’, although it’s important to remember that while the puppeteer pulled the strings, the foreign government called the shots.”
It was later reported the case Mr Burgess was talking about involved Chinese spies trying to bankroll the campaigns of NSW Labor candidates in the upcoming federal election.
Dr Chau is a Chinese-Australian philanthropist and political donor who was last year awarded $590,000 in a defamation case against the ABC and Nine over a Four Corners episode in 2017.
The program, titled “Power and Influence”, investigated Chinese interference in Australian politics.
Dr Chau successfully argued in court the program falsely painted him as a corrupt Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy who paid a bribe to a UN official.
“In 2017, the ABC and Nine journalist Nick McKenzie made a similar allegation in a Four Corners report,” Dr Chau said in his statement on Tuesday.
“The Federal Court subsequently awarded me very substantial damages which I donated to charity.”
