Key Points
- A Victorian businessman Di Sanh Duong was the first person charged under foreign interference laws created in 2018.
- In December he was found guilty of preparing for or planning an act of foreign interference on behalf of the CCP.
- The former Victorian Liberal candidate was jailed for at least 12 months on Thursday in Victoria's County Court.
The first person found guilty under Australian foreign interference laws will spend at least 12 months behind bars.
Victorian businessman Di Sanh Duong, 68, was the first person charged under federal laws created in 2018, which ban covert foreign interference in domestic politics.
He faced a month-long trial in the County Court at the end of 2023 before being found guilty of preparing for or planning an act of foreign interference on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
A jury found that Duong cultivated a relationship with then-federal multicultural affairs minister Alan Tudge on behalf of the CCP.
He reportedly told an associate that he believed Tudge "will be the prime minister in the future".
Prosecutors said Duong, a former Victorian Liberal Party candidate and Chinese community leader, was an ideal target to work as an agent for the CCP's United Front Work Department.
After the COVID-19 outbreak began, Duong used his position as president of the Oceania Federation of Chinese Organisations to raise money for supplies, including gloves and masks, to be exported from China.
When he was unable to secure shipment, he arranged for Tudge to receive a $37,450 donation on behalf of the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Tudge's office organised a media opportunity where a novelty cheque was handed over at the hospital in June 2020.
Duong pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations of foreign interference.
Di Sanh Duong (second from left) arrives at the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne. Source: AAP / Con Chronis
However, the jury disagreed and returned a guilty verdict in December.
Duong, who has been on bail throughout the proceedings, learnt his fate at Melbourne's County Court on Thursday as he sat with an interpreter in the court dock.
He cried and grabbed a tissue upon learning he would be taken immediately to prison, as Judge Richard Maidment handed him a maximum two-year and nine-month prison term.
Duong must serve 12 months of that sentence before he can be released on a four-year good behaviour bond, for which he must pay $3,000.
Despite the 68-year-old's age, ailing health and the impact his time in custody will have on his wife and seven-year-old son, Judge Maidment found a jail term was the only option.
"I'm satisfied no sentence other than a sentence of imprisonment [is] appropriate," he said.
He said Duong had "exploited" his lack of prior criminal history, good standing in the community and Liberal Party membership in committing the offending.
His selection of a cabinet minister as the object of his criminal intent amounted to a "serious example of an inherently serious offence", Judge Maidment said.
The sentence fell the day after ASIO .
Judge Maidment noted the news, saying it was "impossible to ignore", but made it clear he had no prior warning of the reports.
"I had no advanced warning of these statements," he said.
"I make it crystal clear I've not been influenced in my sentencing by anything in the press."
Duong was escorted out of the court by custody officers.
