Fairfax Media published a story late on Friday night (1/2/19) outing Tony Abbott for attending a Chinese New Year function hosted by the Chinese Communist Party’s top Australian lobbyists and propagandist.
The “hosts” included “several facing pressure to declare their Beijing connections on the nation’s new foreign influence register.“
“Mr Abbott, fundraiser John Caputo and state MPs John Sidoti and Mark Coure, were all VIP guests at a Chinese New Year function attended by Beijing’s highest ranking United Front affiliates in Australia.“
“The United Front Work Department is a unique agency overseen by the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee and which leads the party’s United Front operations aimed at influencing overseas Chinese and Western elites, including politicians, to back Beijing’s aims.“ (Click here to read more)
Tony Abbott has come out swinging today (2/2/19) and said he gave a speech at the function also criticising the Chinese government.
“Mr Abbott. who spoke at the function, initially gave praise to the Chinese government over the country’s rise.”
“The rise of China has been one of the phenomenon of the modern world,” he said, in audio obtained by Sky News. “It is immensely to the credit of the Chinese people and the Chinese government that over the past 40 years, a half a billion people have been raised from the third world to the middle class, and I have nothing but admiration for the Chinese people and government presiding over this change.”
“But in the same recording, Mr Abbott goes on to criticise President Xi Jinping over his militarisation of the South China Sea and removal of term limits last year.” (Click here to read more)
Tony Abbott used Twitter as per below to blame Fairfax Media and said “Trust the SMH not to report what I actually said at the Chinese New Year event. The last thing I am is patsy for the Chinese govt, as my remarks show:“
The problem for “Shanghai Tony” is that he also told Fairfax Media “If I knew [United Front groups were there], I wouldn’t have gone. The last thing I am is a patsy for the Chinese government.” So Shanghai Tony has admitted he should not have been at the function. It is was hardly Fairfax’s fault he was there and given the recent history of political bribery allegations against Chinese nationals there is no justification for Tony Abbott being there.
The $100,000 Tony Abbott bribe
In June 2013 Tony Abbott, Stuart Robert and Ian Macfarlane were given $250,000 worth of watches by Chinese billionaire Li Ruipeng. But it wasn’t reported by the media until 2016.
“Macfarlane, assuming his Rolex was a fake worth between $300 and $500, declared the gift with the clerk of the House of Representatives but kept it (“and wore it occasionally,” says the Herald Sun).“
Ian Macfarlane eventually had his watch valued at $40,000 and it was said his watch was not as valuable as the watches given to Tony Abbott and his wife Margie. So an estimated guess is that the 2 watches that Tony Abbott received were worth at least $100,000 in total. Abbott said he thought the watches were fake and declared them but eventually gave them back. (Click here to read more)
If Shanghai Tony really thought the watches were fake then why did he originally keep them? It’s just not believable. And declaring them at $500 each when they are really worth $50,000 each or more is clearly taking a bribe. As we know business people do not give gifts like that unless they want something in return and Tony Abbott knows that. Looks like Shanghai Tony was being set up with a bribe to be a “a patsy for the Chinese government” and was happy to do so.
With all the recent allegations of the Liberal Party and the Labor Party taking bribes off the Chinese then Tony Abbott would have been fully aware of who he was going to the function with.
Tony Abbott’s money man John Caputo
Also at the Chinese New Year function was John Caputo which is a huge problem for Tony Abbott and shows Abbott is lying. Why?
In June 2017 it was reported in an article titled “Tony Abbott’s money man John Caputo hit by China donations scandal“
A key political fundraiser for former prime minister Tony Abbott has maintained contact with Chinese Communist Party-aligned businessman Huang Xiangmo, despite warnings from ASIO to Mr Abbott about the billionaire donor.
Mr Huang has sought to get Abbott confidant and Liberal party heavyweight, John Caputo, to intervene in his citizenship application, according to a well-placed source.
Mr Huang, whose citizenship application has stalled while it is investigated by intelligence agency ASIO, developed a relationship with Mr Caputo after Mr Huang became one of the Liberal Party’s biggest NSW donors in the lead up to the 2013 election.
Mr Huang and his close associates have given at least $1.1 million to the Liberals in recent years.
In 2015, Mr Abbott was briefed by ASIO chief Duncan Lewis about the agency’s concerns that Mr Huang’s close ties with the Chinese Communist Party might mean his donations could be used to advance Beijing’s interests.
Fairfax Media has confirmed that in the months after this briefing, Mr Caputo, a president of the Liberal Party’s Brookvale and Allambie branch, a former vice president of Mr Abbott’s Warringah federal Electorate Conference and head of fundraising in Warringah for the 2016 election campaign, had discussions with Mr Huang about the Chinese born businessman’s concerns his citizenship application had stalled. (Click here to read more)
So from 2013 to 2015, or longer, Tony Abbott and John Caputo:
1. Had close dealings with Chinese Communist Party-aligned businessman Huang Xiangmo.
2. Received $1.1 million in donations for the Liberal Party from “Mr Huang and his close associates”,
3. Mr Abbott was warned by ASIO in 2015 there was a problem
4. But by 2019 Shanghai Tony and John Caputo had forgotten all about it and rocked up to the Chinese New Year function with the same people there not knowing about a number of the hosts being lobbyists and propagandists for the Chinese Communist Party.
John Caputo is a busy man. When not helping Tony Abbott he also has had time to be grilled at ICAC over fraudulent slush funds
A Liberal Party official linked to Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Premier Mike Baird has come under fire at a corruption inquiry over thousands of dollars in cheques he gave to former state energy minister Chris Hartcher.
John Caputo, a fund-raiser for Mr Abbott and Mr Baird and a former mayor of Warringah, admitted at the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Thursday that it was a “diversion” from normal practice to give donations made out to the NSW Liberal Party directly to Mr Hartcher.
The commission heard allegations on Wednesday that an “avidly anti-socialist” accountant called Timothy Trumbull, an associate of Mr Caputo, subverted the $5000 cap on personal political donations by using his employees as “fronts”. (Click here to read more)
ICAC raised allegations against John Caputo of money laundering and dodgy slush funds. The exact skill set that would be needed if for example Tony Abbott wanted to hide illegal donations from someone like the Chinese Communist Party. The same sort of people Shanghai Tony met at the Chinese New Year function.
Tony Abbott lying about another meeting
As we all know Tony Abbott’s memory about who he met and why at election time is not great. In the below video just before the 2004 election Tony had a hard time remembering that he had met George Pell only a few days before. I wrote in 2015
“Tony Abbott and George Pell have a history of working together in politics. Before the 2004 election Tony Abbott gave an infamous interview on the ABC’s Lateline where he was caught lying and deceiving in relation to a meeting with George Pell. A couple of days after the meeting George Pell was a signatory to a letter criticising the Labor Party.” (Click here to read more)
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When you look at who attended the Chinese New Year function and why it makes Tony Abbott’s claim totally unbelievable that he did not know that it was “hosted by the Chinese Communist Party’s top Australian lobbyists and propagandist”.
It is only after being caught out by the media that Shanghai Tony started ducking and weaving and making up excuses. It seems both Tony Abbott and his right-hand man John Caputo are both patsies for the Chinese government and have been for a long time.
It is interesting that Tony Abbott’s supporters are claiming on social media that most, if not all, of the people running against him at the next federal election are puppets for the activist organisation GetUp! who they claim are foreign funded. Even taken at its highest, at best it is the pot calling the kettle black. And I doubt any of Abbott’s competitors are as connected to any foreign government funding, if at all, to the same degree that Shanghai Tony is connected to the Chinese government’s money.
Shanghai Tony still has a lot of questions he needs to answer regarding the Chinese New Year function and why he and John Caputo were there.
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