The Daily Telegraph quoting former NSW Supreme Court judge, NSW Labor Attorney General ,and current Chief Commissioner of the NSW ICAC John Hatzistergos has reported:
A former NSW Labor attorney-general says political parties are circumventing NSW’s strict rules on donations by funnelling prohibited cash through federal campaign accounts.
Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) chief commissioner John Hatzistergos has called for uniform donation rules across the country to avoid parties skirting the rules, a practice that was highlighted during a 2019 inquiry into NSW Labor banking Aldi bags full of cash from a prohibited Chinese donor.
He noted that in evidence to ICAC’s investigation into the Chinese Friends of Labor fundraising dinners, former NSW Labor secretary Sam Dastyari said donations banned at a state level could be banked in federal accounts.
However, he said politicians could also be improperly influenced without any money changing hands.
“They (politicians) have to use their position in the public interest and we make that point clearly to them all the time,” he said. “It’s not their electoral interests, it’s not the interests of their friends or their donors or anyone else.” Mr Hatzistergos also reiterated ICAC’s call for political parties to be subject to certain “governance” standards in order to get funding for administrative purposes.(Time to close loophole on political donations EXCLUSIVE JAMES O’DOHERTY STATE POLITICAL EDITOR,21 November 2023 Daily Telegraph)
It is left to be seen if Hatzistergos will pursue or ignore the matter of the NSW LPAB's dealings with the Communist Party China linked donor Zhu Minshen and his Top Group.Readers will recall that his predecessor and fellow judge of the NSW Supreme Court Peter Hall refused to do so despite the evidence before him.
While Liberal Party donor Zhu Minshen has been, this far, the focus of attention with regards Top Education Group and its license to issue LLB degrees, f Dr Amen Lee, former Executive Chairman of the Australia China Trade, Economic and Cultural Association's (ACETCA), appears to have had an equal even if less prominent role in the matter.
In August this year Amen Lee told ICAC:
"If I do attend these (fundraising) events they are paid for by Top Education or ACETCA. I have not and would not attend as an individual," Dr Lee said. Top Education is a company of which Dr Lee said he was a director and shareholder.
Top's 2019 Annual Report includes these disclosures:
The Company made history as it founded the very first Law School within a private higher education institute when both TEQSA and NSW LPAB officially accredited its degree program in Law.
Members of the Controlling Shareholders Group are parties acting in concert and on 13 October 2017, they entered into a confirmation deed to, among others, confirm that they have been acting together with an aim to achieving decisions at general meetings of the Company on a unanimous basis. Members of the Controlling Shareholders Group are the founding Shareholders or have invested in the Company at an early stage. Dr. Zhu and Mr. (Amen) Lee are the members of the Controlling Shareholders Group. As at 30 June 2019, all the members of the Controlling Shareholders Group together controlled 855,468,000 Shares. Under the SFO, each of Dr. Zhu and Mr. Lee is deemed to be interested in the Shares beneficially owned by the other members of the Controlling Shareholders Group.
As at 30 June 2019 Zhu controlled 38.16% of Top's shares, while Amen Lee controlled 33.46%.
The above suggests that there is some overlap between Top Group and ACETCA. All of the above raises many questions as to who else supported Top's introduction into state and federal political ,and legal circles.
The LPAB and the AG Mark Speakman have refused to answer any questions about the license issued Top Group. In addition ICAC chairman Peter Hall has refused to call Minshen Zhu as a witness to the ongoing inquiry into Chinese political donations, despite Amen Lee's testimony. Hall would be required to call Zhu, and those responsible within the LPAB, which is chaired by the Chief Justice of NSW Tom Bathurst, and overseen by the AG, MArk Speakman.
Hall's position is as chairman of the ongoing inquiry and of ICAC seems increasingly untenable. He should resign.
Despite the Top Group , Sydney City School Of Law license trading, pump and dump scandal including even the PwC scandal , the National Anti Corruption Commission headed by former NSW judge Paul Brererton seem unconcerned.
Meanwhile, Top Group continues to enjoy access to Commonwealth Government funding, and its Sydney City School Of Law, to produce law graduates who qualify for admission to practise before the NSW Supreme Court, in which Brererton served as a judge.
The matter of Top Group and its Sydney City School Of Law has been in the public domain for more than 7 years. The NACC and Brererton should not need a referral to commence investigation.
PricewaterhouseCoopers began work on a top-level consulting contract with the federal government's regulator of tertiary colleges 24 hours before agreeing to acquire a $5.5 million stake in one such college, the controversial Top Education Group.
In addition, eight senior partners of PwC — including two who oversaw the firm while it misused confidential Treasury data, prompting a global crisis — personally invested another $2.5 million in the company a year later.
The investments in 2016 and 2017, totalling $8 million, were made in the run-up to the May 2018 float of the company on the Hong Kong securities exchange. PwC's former chief executive Tom Seymour sat on Top Education Group's board until last year.
Despite this significant shareholding in the college, PwC continued to take on consulting work for the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), even though Top Education Group was directly impacted by TEQSA's regulatory decisions.
The Top Group IPO was a classic pump and dump, and it was based on the license to award law degrees granted by NSW Attorney General Meak Speakman and his NSW Legal Profession Admission Board. Much has transpired to complicate matters since the IPO and the collapse in share price and market capitalisation, but the Speakman remains silent.
In Hong Kong and other Asian markets there will be questions raised and an investigation intot he pump and dump and political funding, but in Australia there has been nothing of that sort. Of course, Speakman is also the minister in charge of the state corruption agency, and is part of the panel that determines who heads it.
TO BE READ WITH
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Top Group IPO a classic case of license trading: Post IPO spike & collapse in market cap raises obvious questions about any political party beneficiaries ,but Peter Hall & ICAC not interested
by Ganesh Sahathevan
The graph above shows the movements in Zhu Minshen's Top Group's share price since its IPO and listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
It is easy to see that there was an initial spike after which share price and market capitalisation collapsed.
Anyone familiar with Asian markets will see that the Top Group listing and movement in share price follows the well trodden path of companies that list as soon as hard to get approvals are obtained and then sold via an IPO. In the case of Top Group the relevant approval was the "first and only" license to grant Australian law degrees granted a private company, granted by the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board,after consultation with the Law Council Australia.
It has already been shown on this blog that the granting of that license coincided with donations from Top and Zhu to the NSW Liberal Party. Consequently a inquiry into who the beneficiaries of the IPO were seems a logical step for an inquiry into political donations in NSW, but not it seems for Peter Hall QC and ICAC.
Top Group continues to be a source of scandal due in part to the incompetence of former ICAC chief Peter Hall. Hall refused to call Top Group's founder , principal and major shareholder Zhu Minshen in the course of his investigation into political donations by the Communist Party Of China, despite the evidence before him that clearly linked Top Group to that scandal.
O'Dea was Liberal member for Davidson, and an ally of Gladys Berejiklian. Top Group received approval from the NSW LPAB to award law degrees around the time Top and its founder Zhu Minshen donated AUD 44 275 to the NSW Liberal Party. That apporval was renewed under the watch of former NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman, who is the crurrent leader of the NSW Liberals,and Leader Of The Opposition.
The Top Group IPO was a classic pump and dump, and it was based on the license to award law degrees granted by NSW Attorney General Meak Speakman and his NSW Legal Profession Admission Board. Much has transpired to complicate matters since the IPO and the collapse in share price and market capitalisation, but the Speakman remains silent.
In Hong Kong and other Asian markets there will be questions raised and an investigation intot he pump and dump and political funding, but in Australia there has been nothing of that sort. Of course, Speakman is also the minister in charge of the state corruption agency, and is part of the panel that determines who heads it.
TO BE READ WITH
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Top Group IPO a classic case of license trading: Post IPO spike & collapse in market cap raises obvious questions about any political party beneficiaries ,but Peter Hall & ICAC not interested
by Ganesh Sahathevan
The graph above shows the movements in Zhu Minshen's Top Group's share price since its IPO and listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
It is easy to see that there was an initial spike after which share price and market capitalisation collapsed.
Anyone familiar with Asian markets will see that the Top Group listing and movement in share price follows the well trodden path of companies that list as soon as hard to get approvals are obtained and then sold via an IPO. In the case of Top Group the relevant approval was the "first and only" license to grant Australian law degrees granted a private company, granted by the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board,after consultation with the Law Council Australia.
It has already been shown on this blog that the granting of that license coincided with donations from Top and Zhu to the NSW Liberal Party. Consequently a inquiry into who the beneficiaries of the IPO were seems a logical step for an inquiry into political donations in NSW, but not it seems for Peter Hall QC and ICAC.
While Liberal Party donor Zhu Minshen has been, this far, the focus of attention with regards Top Education Group and its license to issue LLB degrees, f Dr Amen Lee, former Executive Chairman of the Australia China Trade, Economic and Cultural Association's (ACETCA), appears to have had an equal even if less prominent role in the matter.
In August this year Amen Lee told ICAC:
"If I do attend these (fundraising) events they are paid for by Top Education or ACETCA. I have not and would not attend as an individual," Dr Lee said. Top Education is a company of which Dr Lee said he was a director and shareholder.
Top's 2019 Annual Report includes these disclosures:
The Company made history as it founded the very first Law School within a private higher education institute when both TEQSA and NSW LPAB officially accredited its degree program in Law.
Members of the Controlling Shareholders Group are parties acting in concert and on 13 October 2017, they entered into a confirmation deed to, among others, confirm that they have been acting together with an aim to achieving decisions at general meetings of the Company on a unanimous basis. Members of the Controlling Shareholders Group are the founding Shareholders or have invested in the Company at an early stage. Dr. Zhu and Mr. (Amen) Lee are the members of the Controlling Shareholders Group. As at 30 June 2019, all the members of the Controlling Shareholders Group together controlled 855,468,000 Shares. Under the SFO, each of Dr. Zhu and Mr. Lee is deemed to be interested in the Shares beneficially owned by the other members of the Controlling Shareholders Group.
As at 30 June 2019 Zhu controlled 38.16% of Top's shares, while Amen Lee controlled 33.46%.
The above suggests that there is some overlap between Top Group and ACETCA. All of the above raises many questions as to who else supported Top's introduction into state and federal political ,and legal circles.
The LPAB and the AG Mark Speakman have refused to answer any questions about the license issued Top Group. In addition ICAC chairman Peter Hall has refused to call Minshen Zhu as a witness to the ongoing inquiry into Chinese political donations, despite Amen Lee's testimony. Hall would be required to call Zhu, and those responsible within the LPAB, which is chaired by the Chief Justice of NSW Tom Bathurst, and overseen by the AG, MArk Speakman.
Hall's position is as chairman of the ongoing inquiry and of ICAC seems increasingly untenable. He should resign.
It was almost inevitable that coal mining licensing in NSW would be exploited because the system was so conducive to corruption, the state's watchdog says.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has slammed the department of resources licensing process, saying it would have been "inconceivable" for any other portfolio to have been so open to exploitation for the benefit of a select few.
It comes after the ICAC found earlier this year that former mining minister Ian Macdonald rigged a 2008 tender process for a coal licence in the Bylong Valley, which financially benefited the family of his then colleague Eddie Obeid
David Ipp, QC, formerly a judge of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), believes the New South Wales Government’s mining licence approval process is at risk of corruption, particularly given its handling of the Ridgelands coal mine renewal in the state’s Upper Hunter region.
“When a government goes to the trouble of creating an elaborate procedure for the granting of mining tenements and doesn’t respect its own laws it’s a recipe for corruption,” he told NSW paper Newcastle Herald.
“There is little point in creating this elaborate process if the government doesn’t comply and respect its own procedures. It becomes an illusion.”
In "Silent Invasion" Professor Clive Hamilton describes how Zhu Minshen and his Top Education Institute(and other Chinese entities) interfere in Australian politics.The section on Zhu and Top begins : "Few people noticed, but the fishy smell around Zhu Minshen's Top Education Institute was noticeable a few years before it began wafting from the front pages of the newspaper (such as the AFR in 2013)".
The notoriety that Zhu and Top Group had gained since 2013,and especially in 2016 seems to have been ignored in the process of evaluating Zhu's application, despite the very high standards of probity the LPAB ,the Chief Justice and the AG profess for anyone seeking admission to practice in NSW.
Now it has been discovered that Zhu Misnhen's Top Education Group Law School, also known as the Sydney City School Of Law, is not certified by the Council Of Australian Law Deans and its Australian Law Schools Standards Committee.
The Australian Law Schools Standards Committee (ALSSC) is established under Standard 12 of the Australian Law School Standards. The ALSSC’s functions are to: consider and determine applications from law schools for certification as compliant with the Standards; and keep the Standards under review and to propose to CALD amendments from time to time.
The ALSSC is comprised of eight committee members from both within and outside the law school sector.
A list of the Australian Law Schools that are certified as at 9 March 2020 is available here.
Readers can see for themselves from the PDF link above that Zhu Misnhen's Top Education law school is not among those listed as being certified by the CALD.
That Zhu Minshen's law school has been approved by TEQSA, the NSW LPAB which is chaired by NSW Chief Justice Bathurst),but not certified by the Council Of Australian Law Deans is an inconsistency that raises questions afresh about professional standards at the NSW LPAB, TEQSA and Law Council Australia.
While debate continues about the extent to which the proposed Federal ICAC's inquiries ought be public, the mystery that continues to surround the apparent misconduct at the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board and the anomalies in its dealings with the Communist Party China linked Zhu Minshen and his Top Education Group serve to provide a useful case study for the argument that the inquiries ought to be public.
The NSW LPAB is a quasi-judicial body which is chaired by the Chief Justice Of NSW. As detailed in the story below, the secrecy that it is afforded given its status allowed it to grant Zhu Minshen favours never granted any other individual and private entity. In this case the favours were granted despite Zhu's Communist Party China ties, and the political donation scandal that he was embroiled in.
Retired ASIO chief Duncan Lewis has accused the Chinese government of using 'insidious' foreign interference operations to 'take over' Australia's political system.
Anyone in political office could be a target, the former spy chief told the political journal Quarterly Essay in an interview to be published next week.
Mr Lewis claimed Chinese authorities were trying to 'place themselves in a position of advantage' by in political, social, business and media circles, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Friday, citing the interview.
Despite that warning, the NSW LPAB renewed Zhu Minshen's right to grant LLB degrees, and entree into Australia's legal system:
Retired ASIO chief Duncan Lewis has accused the Chinese government of using 'insidious' foreign interference operations to 'take over' Australia's political system.
Anyone in political office could be a target, the former spy chief told the political journal Quarterly Essay in an interview to be published next week.
Mr Lewis claimed Chinese authorities were trying to 'place themselves in a position of advantage' by in political, social, business and media circles, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Friday, citing the interview.
'Espionage and foreign interference is insidious. Its effects might not present for decades and by that time it's too late,' he said.
'You wake up one day and find decisions made in our country that are not in the interests of our country.'
In the interview, Mr Lewis warns covert foreign intrusion into the heart of Australian politics is 'something we need to be very, very careful about'.
His remarks come after Liberal MPs Andrew Hastie and Senator James Paterson were denied visas to travel to China for a study tour after they criticised its human rights recordIn an opinion piece published in The Australian on Thursday, senior Chinese diplomat Wang Xining accused the MPs of having double standards and showing disrespect.
'It is cynical that in a country boasting freedom of speech, different views from another nation are constantly and intentionally obliterated,' Mr Wang wrote.
+7
In the interview, Mr Lewis warns covert foreign intrusion into the heart of Australian politics is 'something we need to be very, very careful about' (pictured is a reeducation centre in Xinjiang province)