The second person ever charged with contravening Australia’s foreign interference laws appeared in a local court yesterday following his arrest a day earlier.
Alexander Csergo, 55, appeared via videoconference before a local court in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta and lawyers asked to adjourn the matter until tomorrow, which was granted by the judge.
Court documents listed a charge of reckless foreign interference against Csergo, with the offense occurring between February 2021 and this month in Australia’s New South Wales state and Shanghai.
Photo: AFP
That makes him the second person charged under the law, which criminalizes activity that helps a foreign power interfere with Australia’s sovereignty or national interest, since it was passed in 2018.
Csergo allegedly engaged in conduct on behalf of or in collaboration with persons acting on behalf of a principal, and was “reckless as to whether the conduct would support intelligence activities of a foreign principal, and a part of the conduct was covert or involved deception”, the court document said.
Csergo recently returned from China and was arrested on Friday at a residence in the Sydney suburb of Bondi, neighbors said.
Without naming Csergo, the Australian Federal Police on Friday said a man was arrested as part of a joint investigation with the country’s intelligence services, and the offense related to Australian defense and national security information.
A LinkedIn profile for an Alexander Csergo who lived in Shanghai showed that he was a digital and data marketing consultant with experience in the advertising industry in China, Singapore and Australia.
He had worked in China since 2011, it showed.
In the statement on Friday, police said the arrested man was contacted while overseas by an individual claiming to be from a think tank.
The man then met two individuals, known to him as “Ken” and “Evelyn,” who offered him money to obtain information about Australian defense, economic and national security arrangements, as well as matters relating to other countries, police said.
The court document also named “Ken” and “Evelyn” as engaging with Csergo.
Police said he compiled a number of reports for the individuals and received payment for those reports.
Police said “Ken” and “Evelyn” worked for a foreign intelligence service and are undertaking intelligence collection activities.
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