A wealthy Chinese immigrant with diplomatic contacts is accused of allegedly spying on a Buddhist organisation’s Canberra branch on behalf of China.
The woman was refused bail in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday after being arrested on Saturday and charged with one count of reckless foreign interference, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment.
The Australian Federal Police allege the woman, who is also an Australian permanent resident, was tasked by a Public Security Bureau of China to covertly gather information about the Canberra branch of Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door, a Buddhist association that is outlawed in China but legal in Australia.
Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker agreed with prosecutors that the woman, whose identity was suppressed by a temporary court order after her lawyers argued she could face reprisals, was a flight risk and could interfere with witnesses or evidence, ABC News reported.
The court heard that the woman is of “substantial means”, received money from Chinese financial institutions, had a personal contact in a Chinese consulate, that one of her associates had offered a $50,000 surety, and that her China-based husband was a vice captain at a public security ministry.
But Magistrate Walker noted that the offered surety “might be two of the defendant’s handbags” and said the accused’s diplomatic contact was “significant” as the consulate had the capacity to issue emergency travel documents that could be used to flee Australia before police were notified.
A police informant told the court that the woman had allegedly used an encrypted all to receive taskings from the PSB office in China, and that as it could be accessed remotely that evidence could be altered or destroyed, and Magistrate Walker said that implied communication could also be continued.
The Commonwealth Attorney General’s department said in a letter to the court that Chinese authorities would likely refuse any extradition request.
Australia and China do not have a bilateral extradition treaty.
The woman will face court again on September 1.
The woman is the third person to be charged under foreign interference laws introduced in 2018, with the two previous charges, from Victoria in 2020 and NSW in 2023, both also involved China.
Header image credit: The Chinese Embassy in Canberra (Nick-D – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link).
