An inquiry by the Independent Commission Against Corruption has revealed that a Chinese billionaire gave a wine box containing $35 000 in cash to New South Wales Labor boss Jamie Clements to help him cover legal bills to fight allegations of sexual harassment.
Mr Clements faced allegations that he tried to kiss a 27-year-old Labor staffer in parliament house office in 2015.
Mr Clements said he was not surprised at being given the money.
“He had a wine box and he opened it, there was cash in it and he had a piece of paper handwritten in English that said ‘for your legal fees’,” Mr Clements said.
The ICAC is currently investigating multiple other donations by Huang Xiangmo to politicians including Sam Dastyari and Ernest Wong.