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Two suspected Chinese spies gave a Sydney businessman envelopes of cash for information about subjects including a government deal with the United States and Britain to build a fleet of Australian nuclear-powered submarines, prosecutors told a court on Monday.
The businessman, Alexander Csergo, was refused bail when he appeared by video link from prison in Sydney’s Downing Center Local Court charged with one count of reckless foreign interference.
The charge, included in laws against covert foreign interference and espionage that angered China when they were legislated in 2018, carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence.
He is accused of accepting money from two suspected Chinese spies he knew by the names Ken and Evelyn in exchange for handwritten reports on Australian defense, economic and national security arrangements since 2021 while he worked in Shanghai, where he owns a communications and technology infrastructure consultancy business.
The subjects included the AUKUS partnership among Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States to create an Australian submarine fleet powered by U.S. nuclear technology that was announced in September 2021, prosecutor Connor McCraith said.
U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of Australia and Britain announced details of the deal in March, including that Australia would buy secondhand Virginia-class submarines from the United States and build a new AUKUS class of submarines with Britain.
The suspected spies also requested details about Australia’s partnership with the United States, Japan and India known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad, as well as information about lithium and iron ore mining in Australia, the prosecutors alleged.
