WA Libs to keep Chinese funny money

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Via The West:

The WA Liberal Party will not return $400,000 in donations from a Chinese-born businessman at the heart of allegations he funded the bribery of a senior United Nations official.

The WA branch of the Liberal Party accepted a $200,000 donation from a company associated with billionaire property developer Chau Chak Wing in 2014, and a second $200,000 donation in 2016.

On Tuesday, WA Federal Liberal MP Andrew Hastie used parliamentary privilege to accuse Dr Chau of funding the bribery of former United Nations General Assembly president John Ashe, and of having played a major role in China’s primary “soft power” group, United Front

Dr Chau has vehemently denied any suggestion he has acted as an agent of China, or has attempted to influence Australian decision-makers.

That’s right. The money just grew on a tree.

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.