Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to table documents in the House related to allegations of a Chinese state-linked entity deliberately seeking to liquidate Australian companies.

Leave granted.

I table the documents. If an Australian company were maliciously liquidated at the direction of a Chinese state-linked entity, this House would rightly be outraged, and it should be. That why I bring to the attention of the House the liquidation of Sargon at the request of Taiping Trustees as the financing arm of Chinese state-linked enterprise China Taiping. The documents that have come into my possession appear to indicate that there has been a deliberate campaign to trigger the receivership of Sargon by China Taiping. The documents allude to the fact that, using a PR firm, stories were deliberately seeded to raise doubts about the sustainability of an Australian company, to the advancement of the Chinese linked interests. The allegations are that the interest payments on finance were deliberately redirected to present a failure to service debt. Consequently, contractual terms would be triggered, allowing for the appointment of an administrator, who would appoint a liquidator for Sargon. By triggering such terms, ASIC did not scrutinise the claims of creditors. The allegation is that, in doing so, it allowed China Taiping to take control of Sargon and its interests, physical and intellectual.

Like many members, in tabling the documents, I say that the documents presented form only part of a complex picture, but there is a public benefit in the allegations being investigated and made out. The documents include financial statements and other important matters. These are serious allegations. In the interests of Australian companies that might secure finance from Chinese state-linked entities, the documents are tabled to ensure scrutiny and, should the claims be made out, a warning. (Time expired)