(Updates with alleged Chinese spy made contact via social
media)
By Kirsty Needham and Lewis Jackson
SYDNEY, April 17 (Reuters) - An Australian man has been
refused bail after being charged with a foreign interference
offence for accepting cash from suspected Chinese intelligence
agents, with a Sydney court saying his close ties to China made
him a flight risk.
Magistrate Michael Barko said Alexander Csergo was a
"sophisticated, worldly businessperson" who had been on the
radar of Australian intelligence for some time before his arrest
on Friday.
The prosecution had a strong case against Csergo, who had
lived in China for decades, Barko said in refusing bail.
Csergo is alleged to have arrived back in Australia this
year with a "shopping list" of intelligence priorities he had
been asked for by two people he had suspected since 2021 to be
agents for China's Ministry of State Security, the court heard.
The pair, named in court only as "Ken" and "Evelyn", first
made contact with Csergo through LinkedIn.
This shopping list had been discovered by Australian
intelligence authorities three weeks after Csergo returned to
Sydney, the court was told.
Csergo had been allegedly asked to handwrite reports about
Australia's AUKUS defence technology partnership with the United
States and Britain, the QUAD diplomatic partnership, iron ore
and lithium mining, Barko said.
A marketing executive, Csergo, 55, was arrested in the
beachside suburb of Bondi on Friday. He is the second person
charged under Australia's foreign interference law, which
criminalises activity that helps a foreign power interfere with
Australia's sovereignty or national interest. It carries a
maximum 15 year prison sentence.
Csergo appeared in court via video link from Parklea Prison
where he is being held as a high 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 Shanghai cafes and
restaurants, the establishments had been empty and he suspected
they had been cleared, Barko said.
He developed a high level of anxiety and was in "survival
mode", he had told the Australian authorities.
Csergo had exchanged around 3,300 WeChat messages with the
pair, and had accepted cash payments in envelopes, Barko said.
Barko raised concerns for Csergo's safety, saying some
people may not want him to give evidence against China.
Csergo's lawyer, Bernard Collaery, had sought bail, saying
the reports Csergo had written were based on publicly sourced
information and the case against his client was "shallow and
unsubstantiated".
Prosecutor Conor McCraith disputed this, saying it was not
all open source because he had engaged covertly with two others
to prepare reports. He also said Csergo had not come to
Australian authorities with his concerns about Ken and Evelyn,
and had instead invited Ken to come to Australia.
Collaery said making cash payments was a common business
practice in China, and Csergo undertook the consulting work
during the COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai as a source of income.
"Of course he believed Ken and Evelyn were keeping tabs on
him. That's how it works in China, he became very worried about
it," Collaery said.
Csergo had worked in China since 2002 in data marketing,
including for a major international advertising agency.
Collaery said Csergo's career had come "tumbling down" since
his arrest and he had no intention to return to China and
instead planned to pursue the Australian government for damages
for ruining his career.
Collaery told media outside the court the case was a "civil
liberties" issue and raised concerns about the scope of the
foreign interference law introduced in 2018.
"If you work as a consultant in any foreign country... and
you undertake consulting work that may relate to Australia's
foreign influences or national security... you can be guilty of
foreign interference," he told reporters.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham and Lewis Jackson; Editing by
Michael Perry and Lincoln Feast)
@lewjackk))
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