2021/05/12 10:48
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A Chinese-born political adviser on Wednesday lost his challenge in Australia’s highest court against laws banning covert foreign interference in domestic politics.
John Shi Sheng Zhang also lost his High Court challenge to the validity of search warrants executed by police at his Sydney home and offices last year as part of an investigation into illegal foreign interference.
Zhang was an adviser to New South Wales state lawmaker Shaoquett Moselmane, whose membership in the opposition Labor Party was suspended after he was also the target of police raids.
The raids in June 2020 were the first police investigation to grab public attention since the foreign interference laws came into force in 2018 and the government bolstered funding to security agencies in late 2019 to enforce them.