Australia jails man who compiled reports for China

An Australian man convicted of reckless foreign interference for compiling reports for Chinese intelligence was yesterday sentenced to more than three years in jail by a Sydney court.

Marketing executive Alexander Csergo, 58, was arrested in Sydney by Australian police in 2023, shortly after he returned from living in Shanghai.

He was accused of accepting cash from Chinese intelligence agents to write reports on topics including Australia’s AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership with the US and the UK, and critical minerals.

Alexander Csergo arrives at the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on Feb. 18.

Photo: Bianca De Marchi, AAP Image via AP

Sydney’s district court sentenced Csergo to three years and six months in jail, eligible for parole from next month, a court official said.

“Foreign interference is an assault on Australian sovereignty,” Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Director-General of Security Mike Burgess said, responding to the sentencing.

“In this case, the spies wanted the Australian to target individuals in Australia’s intelligence community, Prime Minister’s Office, defense sector, judiciary and think tanks,” he added.

Csergo is the second person to be convicted under foreign interference laws introduced in 2018 to criminalize activity that helps a foreign power interfere with Australia’s sovereignty or national interest.

He is the first person sentenced for reckless foreign interference.

The court heard that Csergo had met two suspected Chinese agents, known to him as Ken and Evelyn, in Shanghai after they made contact on professional networking platform LinkedIn.

He met the pair in empty cafes in Shanghai, where he suspected the venues had been cleared for their meetings.

He returned to Australia in 2023 with a “shopping list” of topics Ken wanted information collected on.

The police discovered the list three weeks after Csergo arrived in Australia to live with his family at Bondi Beach.

The court heard that Csergo exchanged thousands of WeChat messages with the pair between 2021 and 2023, and accepted cash in envelopes.

Csergo, found guilty by the court in March, had said that much of the information in the reports was publicly available.

The Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Cyber and Special Investigations Sandra Booth said the best defense against foreign interference was community awareness.

“Often foreign powers will use covert, deceptive or coercive activities to influence political processes, harm national security or threaten communities,” she said.