A Sydney businessman alleged to have been an agent for Chinese state intelligence has told a court there are “numerous exaggerations” in the police version of evidence presented against him.
Alexander Csergo, charged with one count of reckless foreign interference, is alleged to have swapped reports on business and politics with two Chinese handlers, known to him only by the anglicised names “Ken” and “Evelyn”, in exchange for envelopes of cash.
Csergo has been in custody since being arrested at his home in Bondi in April, and faces at least a further month in prison after his bail was denied again on Friday. The charge carries a potential penalty of 15 years in prison.
Stuck in Shanghai during the height of Covid lockdowns, Csergo has previously told Australian police he believed he was being groomed by intelligence officers from China’s powerful Ministry of State Security, even though they said they were from a think tank.
He told police he filled his reports with anodyne, open-source information, even including, in some cases, scarcely credible information – such as a purported interview with the Australian prime minister – in order to placate his handlers until he could escape China. He wrote reports on a range of subjects including lithium mining, Australia’s Aukus alliance and German politics.
He fled China via Hong Kong in February, carrying with him a “shopping list” of desired information given to him by his handlers, which, he told police, he brought home as evidence of Chinese efforts to groom him.
Csergo appeared in court on-screen from custody on Friday, and disputed the written record of an interview with authorities that was provided to the court.
One location where he met Ken and Evelyn was empty because of a Covid-19 lockdown. Csergo told the court that became multiple locations when Australian federal police officers wrote their report, “to make it appear covert”.
“To extend that into a narrative around multiple locations is an exaggeration at the minimum. There are numerous exaggerations here, numerous,” Csergo said.
In Sydney’s Downing Centre local court, magistrate Susan Horan said she understood Csergo’s assertion but said it was not a weak case against him.
“He also needs to understand the court takes the statement of facts at its highest on a bail application,” she said in denying bail.
Horan said the most significant risk was that Csergo would not return to court, despite a $300,000 surety offered by himself and family members.
Horan said Csergo’s significant links to China heightened the risk he would fail to appear in court and that he potentially could use alleged links to Chinese government officials to help him.
More than six months after Csergo was arrested and charged, prosecutors are still waiting for the federal attorney general to consent to Csergo’s prosecution, which is required because of the nature of the charge for the case against him to proceed. A six-month deadline for the attorney-general to give consent lapsed this week, but a magistrate extended the deadline by six weeks.
Csergo’s lawyers have told the court Csergo’s ability to prepare a defence was hampered by repeated delays in prosecutors providing the brief of evidence they intend to allege against him.
Outside court on Friday, Csergo’s mother Cathy said the delays in his case were “absolutely disgusting”. She said her son was innocent and the case against him an injustice.
“He should not be in jail … My son is not a spy, he’s a businessman.”
Cathy Csergo said her son had returned home to Sydney from China to care for her, and that his ongoing incarceration had a devastating impact on her health, and her whole family.
“I don’t sleep, I can’t eat, I’m stressed out,” she said.
Csergo is due to return to court on 29 November.
