Source : Perth Now news
A Sydney-born businessman who is accused of preparing reports for Chinese spies unsuccessfully attempted to ask former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd about Australia’s overseas alliances, a court has been told.
Details of Alexander Csergo’s efforts to reach out to the ex-Prime Minister were heard in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Thursday as he battles allegations that he acted as a source for two spies who were believed to have worked for China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS).
Mr Csergo has pleaded not guilty to one count of reckless foreign interference, with a jury hearing that while living in Shanghai he prepared reports for two people who were introduced to him as “Ken” and “Evelyn” from a Chinese think tank.
Mr Csergo’s defence told the court on the opening day of his trial that while he received money for preparing the reports, he only supplied open source information and did not divulge state secrets.
The 59-year-old was living and running a business in Shanghai in November 2021 when he was approached on LinkedIn by someone claiming to be from a Chinese think tank, whose clients were state-owned Chinese companies, asking if he wanted to do paid part-time consultancy work.
Crown prosecutor Jennifer Single SC told the court on Thursday that he was told “we’re looking for global experts to give top advice” and that the information must not be “from open media”.
He was further told their clients wanted to “thrive” in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
The jury was told that he was later introduced to “Ken” and “Evelyn”, who he met in cafes and restaurants and asked him to prepare reports on lithium, the change in the German government, defence, the Quad alliance, AUKUS and iron ore.
“Often those restaurants were completely empty apart from the accused Ken and Evelyn,” Ms Single told the court.
“And in those empty cafes and restaurants, the accused provided the work he had done in response to their requests”
While preparing the reports, he approached a number of colleagues for information, as well as reaching out to Mr Rudd.
Mr Rudd did not reply, the court was told, but Mr Csergo later claimed in his report that he interviewed the ex-Prime Minister.
“That was a lie (that he interviewed Mr Rudd),” Ms Single told the court.
“On the crown case, that does not matter that he at times lied to Ken and Evelyn.”
According to the Crown case, Mr Csergo was aware he needed to be careful to evade detection when reaching out to other people.
The court was told that on February 14, 2023, before he returned to Australia, he was given a “shopping list” by “Ken”, which he brought to Sydney and was found by police when they raided his mother’s Bondi home.
Items on the shopping list contained a series of topics they were interested in including “foreign policy,” “five eyes intelligence”, “cyber security”, “rumours in Canberra and DC” and “preparing for the Taiwan war”.
Mr Csergo returned to Sydney on March 3, 2023, intending to stay for three months, and was arrested the following month.
It is the Crown case that Mr Csergo believed “Ken” and “Evelyn” worked for the MSS and that he was being groomed to be a potential source.
The Crown argues that he voluntarily engaged with “Ken” and “Evelyn” and that he was doing more than just the bare minimum to placate them, the court was told.
Mr Csergo’s defence barrister, Iain Todd, told the jury during his opening address that his client “provided open source material” and copied it into a report.
He said the documents did not reveal any information about national security or “secret information”.
Mr Todd said Mr Csergo prepared the reports as part of a commercial relationship and “and he did so for money.”
Mr Todd said that one witness, who would give evidence about the value of the reports, described them as “gibberish”.
The trial before Judge Craig Smith continues.
