SYDNEY, Australia – An Australian businessman has been refused bail after being charged with a foreign interference offense for accepting cash from suspected Chinese intelligence agents, with a Sydney court saying his close ties to China made him a flight risk.
Csergo is alleged to have arrived back in Australia this year with a “shopping list” of intelligence priorities he had been asked for by two people he had suspected since 2021 to be agents for China’s Ministry of State Security, the court heard.This shopping list had been discovered by Australian intelligence authorities, the court was told.
Csergo appeared in court via video link from Parklea Prison where he is being held as a high security prisoner. His mother and brother were in court. Csergo had exchanged hundreds of WeChat messages with the pair, and had accepted cash payments in envelopes, Barko said.