Miklos Bolza
Updated ,first published
An Australian businessman recklessly compiled reports for individuals whom he should have suspected were Chinese spies, a jury has found.
Alexander Csergo, 59, was running a business in Shanghai when he was approached on LinkedIn in November 2021 by a woman claiming to be from a Chinese think tank.
His decision to then prepare fake, plagiarised reports for two individuals only known as Ken and Evelyn was enough for a NSW District Court jury on Friday to find him guilty of one count of reckless foreign interference.
He faces a maximum penalty of 15 years behind bars.
But the IT consultant will get at least one more weekend of relative freedom after prosecutors relented on a request to immediately detain him.
The 59-year-old should have suspected Ken and Evelyn were working for China’s Ministry of State Security, the jury found.
The former Waverley College athletics captain and holder of a bachelor’s degree in science began working in China in 2002 after time at Telstra and Hyatt International.
He went on to work with a large American ad agency, led a data analytics infrastructure build for Shanghai Volkswagen and later helped develop systems for China Telecom and French advertiser JCDecaux.
After being approached in November 2021, Csergo used open-source information to compile reports on a variety of topics including mining, politics, defence and security.
He falsely claimed he had interviewed a number of individuals, including former prime minister Kevin Rudd.
The reports were handed to Ken or Evelyn in person – sometimes at restaurants and cafes devoid of other people – in exchange for envelopes containing the equivalent of thousands of dollars in cash.
Despite this information being worthless, the jury found Csergo guilty after being told by crown prosecutors the relationship with him and his contacts was valuable.
Ken also handed the 59-year-old a “shopping list” of sensitive topics to research when he returned to Australia in early 2023.
This document was found by domestic spies and police when they raided his Bondi home in eastern Sydney in March that year.
Csergo was the second person charged by the federal police’s Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce since new laws came into effect in 2018.
In her closing submissions to the jury, crown prosecutor Jennifer Single said trust increased between Csergo and his two handlers, shown by cash payments rising from the equivalent of about $1000 to more than $6000.
After the guilty verdict, Single applied to detain Csergo again.
But it was resisted by the businessman’s barrister.
Because of the complexities of the matter and the timing, Judge Craig Smith continued Csergo’s bail until a full hearing could be held on Monday morning.
The Crown consented on the condition Csergo report to police twice a day over the weekend.
Csergo declined to comment to reporters as he left court on Friday afternoon.
AAP
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