Last year it was Sam Dastyari, now we have this, via The Age:
A director of a tobacco company that is suspected of smuggling cigarettes has donated $400,000 to the Labor Party, possibly breaching NSW law and the ALP’s own ban on taking tobacco industry funds.
Peter Chen, the sole Australian director of Sydney tobacco company ATA International, donated to the NSW and federal Labor parties via another of his companies, Wei Wah, which retails the cheap Chinese brand cigarettes ATA imports…
The ALP banned donations from the tobacco industry in 2004, while NSW laws ban funds from any “tobacco industry business entity”, which includes “a close associate of a [tobacco] corporation”. Wei Wah’s website sells three brands of cigarettes imported by ATA.
The ALP did not respond to questions…
The operation bears the hallmarks of international tobacco smuggling, and Fairfax Media has confirmed ATA has attracted intense scrutiny from international law enforcement authorities…
Mr Chen is also a senior member of a Chinese Communist Party lobbying group in Sydney, and former business partner of major political donor Huang Xiangmo, the lobby group’s chairman…
Fairfax Media and the ABC’s Four Corners recently detailed concerns held by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation about Chinese Communist Party-aligned donors exerting political influence, sparking fresh debate about the need for donations reform.
The revelations of Mr Chen’s tobacco ties come just weeks after Fairfax Media revealed that NSW Labor last year collected more than $100,000 from shadowy Chinese-Australian gold dealers who are under investigation by the tax office for avoiding millions in GST obligations.
History never repeats, but is sure does rhyme.
