April 17, 2023
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Opposition cyber security spokesman James Paterson says the AFP must be more aggressive in charging Australians for foreign interference and espionage crimes, following the arrest of Sydney businessman Alexander Csergo on Friday for selling Australia’s secrets to alleged overseas spies.
Mr Csergo is only the second person to be arrested under federal foreign interference laws introduced in 2018, which Senator Paterson said was “inconsistent” with warnings from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation about skyrocketing espionage threats.
“If espionage is our No.1 security threat, I’d expect to see more people being charged under those laws than just two people in five years,” said Senator Paterson, who is also the chairman of the Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media.
“I don’t think we’ve been aggressive enough in charging people.”
While the AFP has “disrupted a lot of activities” through small measures such as revoking visas, Senator Paterson said the agency should be charging more individuals.
“The reason why parliament passed the 2018 laws in the first place was so that it had a deterrent effect,” he said. “For the deterrent effect to work you actually have to charge people and convict them, and no one has been convicted yet.”
Mr Csergo, 55, was arrested by Australian Federal Police at Bondi in Sydney’s eastern suburbs late on Friday and charged with one count of reckless foreign interference, a charge that carries a 15-year jail term. He fronted Parramatta Local Court on Saturday morning via video link, but the matter was adjourned for a subsequent release application.
Mr Csergo has a long association with working in businesses in China. One of his social media accounts shows him posing in front of the Fujian tulou – a property of 46 traditional Chinese buildings that is a popular tourist attraction found in mountainous areas of southeastern Fujian, China.
He is believed to have been president of Shanghai-based artificial intelligence company Converseys, which claims to have provided digital solutions to large companies such as Optus, Telstra and Citibank.
According to the Converseys website, he began his career in the telecommunications infrastructure industry in China in 2002, working with Daimler, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover.
Media reports in 2014 reported Mr Csergo had moved on from his role as managing director at Proximity Beijing to improve the Chinese market presence of luxury cosmetics firm Estee Lauder.
The AFP alleged an unnamed individual, purporting to be from a think tank, contacted Mr Csergo through social media while he was offshore, and made arrangements for him to meet with their representatives.
He then allegedly met with two spies, who were using the anglicised names Ken and Evelyn, who offered him money “to obtain information about Australian defence, economic and national security arrangements, plus matters relating to other countries”.
The AFP will allege the pair of spies worked for a foreign intelligence service and were undertaking intelligence collection activities.
ASIO chief Mike Burgess earlier this year declared the agency was taking a “more aggressive counterespionage posture”.
“Australia is facing an unprecedented challenge from espionage and foreign interference and I’m not convinced we, as a nation, fully appreciate the damage it inflicts on Australia’s security, democracy, sovereignty, economy and social fabric,” he said.
Mr Csergo will face court again on Monday.
