‘Ridiculous’: Australian Businessman Accused of Spying for China Slams Police for No Evidence

Alexander Csergo, who is accused of selling secrets to China, says it’s ridiculous that police still have not filed a full brief of evidence in his case nearly four months after he was arrested. The Australian businessman was arrested in Bondi in April. He was charged with one count of reckless foreign interference and is alleged to have swapped reports on business and politics with two Chinese handlers in exchange for hard cash. 

Csergo’s case was delayed on Friday for eight weeks after his lawyer Bernard Collaery told the court that they haven’t received the full brief of evidence from the prosecutors. The court heard that there is no further evidence from overseas. And there’s no timeline of it arriving or not arriving. As such, Collaery said he would seek to make submissions to federal Attorney General Mark Dreyfus after the defense receives the full brief of information from federal police prosecutors. He highlighted that the AG has the discretion to proceed or not to proceed with the charges. 

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The 55-year-old accused expressed displeasure with the delay. He criticized the release of information, but agreed to the delay to allow the AG more time to consider the case. Magistrate Mark Whelan also expressed concerns about the delay. He said the matter needs to move along. 

Csergo was arrested in April. He told the Australian police he believed he was being groomed by intelligence officers from China’s Ministry of State Security when he was stuck in Shanghai during the peak of COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. Two men, believed to be representatives of China’s Ministry of State Security, offered to pay the marketing executive for reports on Australian politics, economics, and foreign relations.

Csergo tried to keep them placated by providing them reports filled with anodyne information (open-source). His lawyer claims none of the information had national security implications.