Latest / The Front / A handbag-obsessed Chinese ‘spy’ in Australia

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A handbag-obsessed Chinese ‘spy’ in Australia · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, August thirteenth, twenty twenty five. The Reserve Bank
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  Speaker 1: has dropped the cash rate a quarter of a percentage
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  Speaker 1: point to three point six percent, the lowest it's been
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  Speaker 1: since mid twenty twenty three. IRBA Governor Michelle Bullock says
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: don't hold your breath for a big jump in living standards.
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  Speaker 1: A senior academic is accusing Australian National University Chancellor Julie
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  Speaker 1: Bishop of bullying. A tearful doctor LZ Allen told a
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Senate committee she was allegedly bullied into near suicide and
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  Speaker 1: miscarried a much wanted baby. Julie Bishop has denied any wrongdoing.
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  Speaker 1: Those stories alive right now at the Australian dot com
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: dot au. Birkenbags are Rolex luxury cars. That's what police
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  Speaker 1: say they see from the home of a Canberra woman
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  Speaker 1: they're accusing of spying for the Chinese government. They say
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  Speaker 1: the unnamed woman was tasked by Chinese intelligence with infiltrating
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  Speaker 1: a Buddhist religious movement that claims Kevin Rudd is the
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  Speaker 1: reincarnation of a Chinese man today, what she was allegedly
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  Speaker 1: up to and why police say she's a risk to
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  Speaker 1: the community. On a cold winter morning the week before last,
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  Speaker 1: Australian Federal Police officers attached to an operation called Autumn
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  Speaker 1: Shield raided the apartment of a married Canberra businesswoman and
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  Speaker 1: allegedly found some items you don't usually see around the
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  Speaker 1: low key national capital.
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  Speaker 2: Numerous Ermez bags, more than six believed to be Burkean
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  Speaker 2: and or Kelly bags.
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  Speaker 1: Those are the world's most expensive handbags and this is
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  Speaker 1: a voice act to reading the words of police in
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  Speaker 1: court documents.
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  Speaker 2: Large quantities of boxes for luxury handbags that were too
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  Speaker 2: numerous to practicably count during the warrant, five thousand dollars
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  Speaker 2: in cash sorted into one hundred dollar bills. Numerous watch receipts,
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  Speaker 2: including a twenty four thousand dollars receipt for Arolics, Large
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  Speaker 2: quantities of luxury and designer brands including Birbery, Gucci and
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Louis Vuitton.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of mystery around this woman.
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  Speaker 1: This is The Australian's reporter Leah Mendez, who's been knocking
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  Speaker 1: on doors in Canberra trying to piece together the life
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  Speaker 1: of this woman whose name has been suppressed.
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  Speaker 3: We're trying to paint the picture of who she is
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  Speaker 3: and what her connections were. She's got this very complex
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  Speaker 3: web of business structures which we're looking into and trying
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: to kind of get our heads around it. But there
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  Speaker 3: is a lot to unpack here, and I think there
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: are a lot more to come in this story.
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  Speaker 1: Police have charged the woman with reckless foreign interference. That's
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  Speaker 1: a breach of the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act that carries
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: a penalty of fifteen years imprisonment. Here's what the charge
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  Speaker 1: sheet says. We've used an AI.
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: Voice between twenty twenty two and the present engaged in conduct,
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  Speaker 4: namely covertly or deceptively collecting information and tasking associates to
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  Speaker 4: collect information on Shinling Farmin Guan Yin, Sita Dhamador on
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  Speaker 4: behalf of or in collaboration with a foreign principle being
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  Speaker 4: the Government of the People's Republic of China. And they
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  Speaker 4: were reckless as to whether their conduct would support the
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: intelligence activities of the Government of the People's Republic of.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: China, in other words, spying and running other spies. But
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  Speaker 1: it's a lesser charge than in tentional foreign interference which
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: could suggest authorities think the woman was less a superspy
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: and more a local asset.
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  Speaker 3: They are essentially alleging that she was allegedly receiving these
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  Speaker 3: taskings from a handler attached to the jin Dong branch,
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  Speaker 3: which is about six hundred and fifty kilometers east of Wuhan.
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  Speaker 1: Court documents say the woman arrived in two thousand and
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  Speaker 1: seven on a higher education visa and she's now an
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  Speaker 1: Australian permanent resident. They say when police raided the house
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: and seized her phone, they found evidence of a connection
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: going back to twenty twenty two with an officer of
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  Speaker 1: China's Public Security Bureau that's Chinese police, and this officer
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  Speaker 1: allegedly works for the Domestic Security Group of the bureau,
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  Speaker 1: that is intelligence gathering. Police say the PSB officer back
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  Speaker 1: in China was regularly tasking her with numerous covert and
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  Speaker 1: deceptive information operations in support of intelligence activities on behalf
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  Speaker 1: of China. They say she was getting her taskings in
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  Speaker 1: person on her visits to China and on WeChat, the
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  Speaker 1: Chinese encrypted social media and messaging app.
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  Speaker 3: The taskings that she was allegedly given was quite physical
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  Speaker 3: based taskings where she had to take photos of front
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  Speaker 3: doors of businesses, allegedly mapping locations and financial information about
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  Speaker 3: the organization and the business. And it was an alleged
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  Speaker 3: intel gathering operation that she was doing. She's alleged to
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  Speaker 3: have received more than two hundred and thirty thousand dollars
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  Speaker 3: from the PRC since twenty seventeen. Now, she does have
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  Speaker 3: still very strong links to China. She's a permanent resident here.
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  Speaker 3: She's got a lot of family in China, but she
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  Speaker 3: still does have strong connections to Canberra.
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  Speaker 1: Say she has bank accounts both in Australia and in China,
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  Speaker 1: and that since twenty seventeen more than two hundred and
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  Speaker 1: thirty thousand dollars have flowed her way from sources in China.
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  Speaker 3: We are restricted due to a very strict suppression order
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  Speaker 3: in saying what she does for work. I get the
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  Speaker 3: feeling that the Australian Federal Police also do not want
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  Speaker 3: the public to know. They haven't in court pushed for
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  Speaker 3: the suppression order, but they also didn't oppose the suppression order.
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  Speaker 3: I'll give you an example. There's a mystery item that
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  Speaker 3: costs four hundred thousand dollars that is in her possession
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  Speaker 3: that has been redacted from court documents. We've got a
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  Speaker 3: fair understanding of what that item is, but can't say,
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  Speaker 3: for legal reasons what that is because that could identify her.
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  Speaker 1: On September one, the matter we'll be back in court
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  Speaker 1: where media organizations including The Australian are arguing for the
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  Speaker 1: suppression order to be lifted.
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  Speaker 3: She is the one who has applied for this order
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  Speaker 3: because she fears that people that have got anti China
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  Speaker 3: sentiments are going to essentially attack her.
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  Speaker 1: All that money and fancy stuff. That's what the police
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  Speaker 1: call unexplained wealth. That is, possessions that can't be explained
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  Speaker 1: by the earnings of the person who's holding them. Luxury
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  Speaker 1: goods are generally small and a great way to move
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  Speaker 1: money around. You can get on a flight with a handbag,
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  Speaker 1: for example, and take it to another jurisdiction without attracting
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: the attention that you might get if you had a
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  Speaker 1: backpack full of cash.
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  Speaker 3: I'll give you a bit of context here. About ten
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  Speaker 3: years ago, she was working in a job that was
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  Speaker 3: paying her about fourteen hundred dollars a week. Since then,
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: she's had lots of businesses. She started some businesses during
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: COVID as well. Some of them, by all accounts, seem
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  Speaker 3: to have done quite well. But still we're talking about
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: Birkin bags multiple amounts. One of these bags that were
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: discovered that police said there were too many to count.
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  Speaker 3: Some of these bags are alleged to costs around thirty
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  Speaker 3: thousand dollars. We've got other information that implies that she
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: was driving high end luxury vehicles. We're talking very fancy cars.
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  Speaker 1: So who was she allegedly spying on and why? The
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: police say the woman was tasked with infiltrating a charismatic
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Buddhist group that was founded in Australia. Guan Yinchita Dhamador
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: is an Australian founded religious organization whose founder once claimed
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was the living reincarnation of
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: a Chinese man. Guan Yin Chitter Damador claims to be
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: a Buddhist organization in the Mahayana tradition, the largest of
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  Speaker 1: Buddhism streams, although that claim has been questioned by other
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  Speaker 1: Buddhist organizations. Its leader was a Chinese Australian man who
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: went by the name Richard Junhong Lu or Master Lou.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: He said he was a Chinese national who moved to
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  Speaker 1: Australia in the late eighties and studied at the University
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: of New South Wales. He began radio broadcasts about Buddhism
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  Speaker 1: and then founded the group, which is registered in Australia
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: under the name Australia Oriental Media Buddhist Charity. Chinese language
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  Speaker 1: media reported Junhong Lu had died in twenty twenty one.
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  Speaker 1: It's been reported the organization is banned in China, where
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: major faiths like Catholicism and Islam are required to register
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  Speaker 1: with the Chinese Communist Party government in order to lawfully
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: practice one in Chitadamad'or's website is packed with emotional videos,
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  Speaker 1: glowing testimonials, and Master junhong Lu addressing his adoring followers,
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  Speaker 1: treat everyone, we're a compassion this role that we are
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  Speaker 1: truly being veiled to wheise love and the peace. Master
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  Speaker 1: Loo is seen in the video series featuring subtitles apparently
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  Speaker 1: praying for the salvation of people who've been struck by
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  Speaker 1: speech impediments or paralysis. He says they're suffering the effects
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  Speaker 1: of bad karma attracted by the deeds of themselves or
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  Speaker 1: their ancestors.
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  Speaker 3: Man.
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  Speaker 2: That's not big way see psakaykay wiped Alcome.
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  Speaker 1: This woman is on her knees begging for advice to
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: help her husband who's in a wheelchair. Master Loo tells
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  Speaker 1: her the husband attracted bad karma by fishing when he
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  Speaker 1: was a boy. He tells the sister of a little
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  Speaker 1: girl in a wheelchair to become a vegetarian to release
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  Speaker 1: the girl from karmic debt. He tells the mother of
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: a little boy that her son has been possessed by
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  Speaker 1: the spirit of a dead puppy.
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  Speaker 2: No, I'm not shelting.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: He tells the mother to release five thousand fish to
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  Speaker 1: cure the boy. Coming up. What happened after police executed
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: the search warrant on July thirty According to court documents,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: police came to the woman's apartment to execute that search warrant.
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  Speaker 1: She was there at the time. They seized her passport
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  Speaker 1: and left without arresting her, but it's clear they had
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  Speaker 1: her under surveillance. The next day, July thirty one, according
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: to court documents.
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  Speaker 4: The defendant engaged in a conversation with an unknown person,
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  Speaker 4: during which the defendant noted that she intends to leave
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  Speaker 4: and had packed six bags of clothes. On the first
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: of August twenty twenty five, the defendant had a third
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  Speaker 4: party drive her to the Chinese consulate, where she stayed
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  Speaker 4: for about an hour and a half.
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  Speaker 1: That prompted police to act. They went back to the
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  Speaker 1: apartment on August two and arrested her and then asked
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  Speaker 1: the act's Chief Magistrate to deny her bail. They say
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  Speaker 1: the woman has a history of misleading and deceptive conduct
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  Speaker 1: and could easily flee the country even though they seized
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  Speaker 1: her passport. They noted her husband is presently in China.
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  Speaker 4: The prosecution of the defendant is therefore directly contrary to
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: the interests of the PRC and linked to the national
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  Speaker 4: security capabilities and agencies of the People's Republic of China.
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  Speaker 4: The People's Republic of China can issue new travel documents
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  Speaker 4: and urgent travel documents at short notice. The PRC or
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: allied nation may offer shelter to the defendant should she
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  Speaker 4: be able to attend an embassy or consulate in the
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  Speaker 4: event she has bailed.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Bail was denied and she was taken to the ACT
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  Speaker 1: regional Watchhouse. She declined to participate in a recorded interview
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  Speaker 1: with police.
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  Speaker 3: The interesting thing here is that this is obviously a
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: foreign interference case. And the way that people are managed
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  Speaker 3: in these cases that they are kept in essentially a
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  Speaker 3: solitary confinement. They're not allowed to interact with other prisoners.
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  Speaker 3: They are very high ranking, almost secretive classification within the
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: prison system. There are some occasions I'm told that where
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: interstate transfers have even happened. So there's a chance that
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: she might not be in the act. But these are
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: all some of the complex things that authorities have to
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: deal with when there is someone of her nature facing
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  Speaker 3: these incredibly serious charges.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Liam Mendez is a reporter with The Australian. Well I've
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: got you. On September twenty four, the Australian's throwing one
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: of our most exciting forums. It's called Energy Nation and
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: it will feature leaders and decision makers talking about how
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: to turn Australia into an energy superpower. Secure your sport
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot com dot au