An Australian businessman facing a foreign interference charge brought home a “shopping list” given to him by two Chinese intelligence officials as evidence of China’s overt and ultimately unsuccessful efforts to cultivate him as a source, his lawyers say.
The list, which Alexander Csergo slipped between the pages of a magazine to spirit out of China, requests information about whether Australia’s new Aukus alliance is “preparing for [a] Taiwan war”, about competition between the US and China in the Pacific, and about the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.
Titled “shopping list for reference”, the list seeks to establish contacts inside the prime minister’s office, within spy agency Asio, and with Australian federal police officers and members of the judiciary. It also asks for information on Australian foreign policy: “us/aus coordination and conflicts on china policy, approaching the cabinet or ministerial level.”
Csergo was arrested in April and charged with one count of reckless foreign interference. His legal team says he provided none of the information requested on the list by his aspiring Chinese handlers – known to him by the anglicised names Ken and Evelyn – and told police that Csergo brought the document back to Australia to demonstrate to Australian authorities the Chinese attempts to groom him.
Guardian Australia has seen a copy of the shopping list but has chosen not to reproduce it publicly.
“To ensure he would be believed by Australian authorities, he brought with him a complete archive of all his efforts to divert his questioners and convince them he should be permitted to leave China,” Csergo’s barrister, Bernard Collaery, told Guardian Australia.
“This included preserving in hard copy a ‘shopping list’ given to him by those seeking to groom him.”
From her Sydney home, Csergo’s elderly mother, Cathy, said “my son is innocent”.
“His whole life, he has worked hard, he has been honest, he has never been involved with the police. When the police came they asked him questions for hours and hours and he said to me, ‘I just told them the truth. I haven’t done anything wrong’.”
Cathy Csergo said public allegations that her son was involved in espionage were devastating to her family and that his isolation was cruel and unjustified.
“They say these things and they are not true. He’s a good man. I’m heartbroken. I go to jail and I can’t hug him.”
Alexander Csergo, a marketing executive, had worked in China and across Asia for more than two decades when he was first approached by two people – whom he assumed to be representatives of China’s powerful ministry of state security (MSS) – during the height of Shanghai’s highly restrictive Covid lockdowns in 2020.
Police allege the pair gave their names as Ken and Evelyn, and offered to pay Csergo for reports on Australian politics, economics and foreign relations.
Essentially trapped in China by the Covid restrictions, Csergo sought to keep his would-be handlers placated by providing them reports filled with “anodyne information”, his lawyers say, all of which was available through open sources and none of which had national security implications. A court hearing was told he was paid in cash, delivered in envelopes.
When lockdown restrictions lifted, he told Ken and Evelyn he needed to return to Australia to care for his elderly and unwell mother.
Having returned in February, Csergo participated in more than five hours of interviews with Asio and the AFP in March, during which, his lawyers say, he explained his tactics to avoid arbitrary detention until he could get out of China. He was arrested a month later, on 14 April, at his Bondi home.
Csergo’s lawyers fear ‘show trial’
Csergo’s legal team have argued a “misconceived and overzealous police prosecution is a cruel response to our client’s courage and candour”, and say they fear a “show trial”.
Collaery said the grooming approach to Csergo appeared to be an MSS provocation, to which Australian authorities had dramatically overreacted.
The “vague and overly broad” laws under which Csergo has been charged were further evidence of “Australia’s drift into authoritarian governance”, Collaery said.
“Alex [Csergo] has done what every captured defence or intelligence official is trained to do: cooperate as harmlessly as possible. If this trial goes ahead, a jury is going to see him as resourceful and courageous.”
Csergo, 55, has been charged with one count of reckless foreign interference, the first time that charge has been laid in Australia. The new law was part of a suite of legislation introduced by then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in late 2017.
Sources with knowledge of the case say there has been no evidence yet presented that Csergo provided any sensitive information to foreign officials, or jeopardised Australia’s national security, arguing the case against him is “weak”.
Csergo is being held at the Parklea Correctional Centre in Sydney’s north-west. He has been refused bail and is in isolation. The publicly broadcast police allegation that he is a spy for China is widely known in the prison, putting a “target on his back”, a source said.
Csergo’s communication to the outside world has been severely curtailed, and his ability to prepare a defence limited. His phone access to his wife and family has been cut; the only number he can call is that of his elderly mother, for brief conversations that are recorded and monitored.
His lawyers say they have been refused access to see him at the door of the prison, and a scheduled two-hour virtual legal meeting was cut to 15 minutes and monitored. More than three months after being arrested, Csergo has still not had a face-to-face meeting with his lawyers.
The AFP issued a statement when Csergo was arrested, saying “it is alleged that on a number of occasions [Csergo] met with two individuals … who offered [him] money to obtain information about Australian defence, economic and national security arrangements”.
In court last month, commonwealth prosecutor Conor McCraith said the “shopping list” was discovered by Asio and had not been declared by Csergo. He alleged Csergo had remained in contact with Ken – via WeChat – from Australia.
Magistrate Julia Virgo refused Csergo’s most recent bail application, citing his “substantial connection to a foreign government” and his behaviour once he returned to Australia.
“It is concerning to me that Mr Csergo himself did not volunteer this information [about attempts to groom him] on his arrival into this country,” Virgo said. The case returns to court in August.
The federal attorney general, who must consent to Csergo’s prosecution, declined to comment on when or how that decision would be made.
The shopping list given to Csergo details information Csergo’s aspirant handlers were seeking.
Undated, without a letterhead and written in imperfect English, the document asks for information on: “Five eyes-intel community\china spy\cyber security, as well as information on the Belt-and-Road Initiative, bribery and corruption cases, and ‘other sensitive storys’ (sic).”
It urges: “Focus on: strategy level – following the fresh geopolitics backgrounds, show top leaders real thinking attitude and mutual talking points, bring out the consensus and conflicts between the main figures.”
Csergo brought the list home to Australia in hard copy, placed inside the pages of a magazine, and carried it onboard the plane that brought him out of China.
