Every day while ICAC is holding hearings there are fresh revelations in the NSW Labor $100,000 cash in ALDI bag scandal so I thought setting out a timeline helps me understand. Corrections/additions welcome.
In 2013 rising Labor star Ms Kaila Murnain was appointed Assistant General Secretary of NSW Labor.
21August2013, a joint sitting of the Parliament of New South Wales appointed Sam Dastyari (a previous close associate of Eddie Obeid) to the Senate seat vacated by Matt Thistlethwaite, who had resigned to contest a House of Representatives seat at the 2013 federal election.
28Mar2015 there was a NSW State election
April 2015 We are told the ALDI bag with $100,000 cash was delivered to the Sussex Street headquarters of NSW Labor by Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo in April 2015. Mr Huang gave the money to former party boss Jamie Clements who then gave it to Mr Cheah to count. Mr Cheah said he did not have time to think about why there was so much cash in the bag when he was counting it because he was very busy, but he agreed it was “unusual”. He said Labor general secretary Kaila Murnain asked him what was in the bag but he could not remember if he told her the exact amount of money it contained.
“I definitely would have said something like ‘a lot of money’,” he told the ICAC.
Mr Cheah said he took the money home with him because there was no safe at party headquarters and the banks were closed. He said Ms Murnain told him to be mindful of his safety as he was leaving work.
Ed note: This $100K cash was an illegal donation on two fronts.
1 – Property developers are not allowed to donate to political parties under NSW law.
2 – under NSW law cash donations can not exceed ~$5,000 – so the $100K would have to be split in “fives” and candidates found who would lend their names to giving away these funds.
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6Sep2016 Senator Sam Dastyari resigned as Manager of Opposition Business and Consumer Affairs Spokesman after reports emerged that he had asked a donor with links to the Chinese Communist Party to pay a travel bill.
16Sep16 Ms Murnain said former MP Ernest Wong told her about an alleged donation by Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo and she immediately called Mr Dastyari for advice. KM says they met outside NSW Parliament but SD says he picked her up in his car in Elizabeth St and they drove around talking.
Ed note: What Ernest Wong was telling Kaila Murnain was that he was hearing from people who were getting letters from the Electoral Commission/ATO asking about their ~$5,000 donation to NSW Labor – and these people needed help.
Ms Murnain said Labor lawyer Ian Robertson told her to “forget” what she had been told about the donations and take no action.
Ms Murnain said she and Mr Dastyari were close friends at the time but their relationship had since dissolved.
Post Sept2016 We have a lengthy period here when all in the know kept stuumm.
25Jan18 Senator Dastyari formally submitted his resignation from the Senate.
Another 18 months passed when all in the know kept stuumm. Tragically a person committed suicide in June 2018 leaving a note referring to being saddled with one of these dodgy ~$5,000 donations. Horrific.
26August2019 ICAC starts public hearings on the 2015 $100K cash donation to NSW Labor and each day the proverbial variously hits the fan.
