The South Australian opposition leader, Steven Marshall, has admitted to hosting the mysterious Chinese businesswoman behind an alleged $1.2m donation to the Liberal party at his home on several occasions.
The AusGold Mining Corporation director Sally Zou created headlines with a since deleted tweet on Friday that showed a cheque for $1,212,018 written out to the Liberal party. Code-breakers on Twitter have connected the amount to the date 1/21/2018 – Marshall’s most recent birthday.
Zou’s tweet read: “This is a life-journey wandering the Man, who met is a beautiful accident... Perhaps is casual transmigration, and this was born, wish you LIBERALS had enough.”
In a Monday morning radio interview with ABC Adelaide, Marshall denied having received the specific cheque in Zou’s photograph but admitted to having hosted the entrepreneur at multiple functions at his home.
Marshall said Zou is an “investor in Australia, and we would like to have more investment in Australia”.
“She was interested in our food sector and exporting food product to the rest of the world,” he said.
Marshall said the question of whether such a donation would be accepted would need to be directed to the state director of the Liberal party, Sascha Meldrum.
Guardian Australia asked Meldrum whether the Liberal party had accepted a $1.2m donation from Zou in a form other than the photographed cheque, and whether the party would accept such a donation from Zou if it were to come through.
In a statement, Meldrum replied: “The South Australian Liberal party has not received the cheque you are referring to. We fully comply with all state and federal reporting requirements and will continue to do so.”
A spokesperson for the electoral commission of South Australia advised Guardian Australia that the Liberal party had advised no such cheque had been received.
“If they do receive the donation, they will have seven days to report it, and after they report it three days after that it will go public [on the electoral commission of South Australia donations register],” the spokesperson said.
The donation disclosure rules apply to all donations over $5,191.
The South Australian premier, Jay Weatherill, told the Adelaide Advertiser he would not accept a $1.2m donation from an individual but whether the Liberal party did is “a matter for them”.
He added he had never had a meeting with Zou but may have met her at functions.
“I’ve never had more than a few words with her,” he said.
The treasurer, Tom Koutsantonis, called on Marshall to reveal if the cheque had been received and whether or not the Liberals would be cashing it in.
“He should commit to telling South Australians the moment it arrives, rather than disclosing it after the election,” he said.
The SA Best leader, Nick Xenophon, highlighted the alleged donation as a reason to impose a maximum cap on political donations.
The federal Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne accused Labor of using the issue to try to “smear and distract”.
Through her AusGold Mining Corporation, Zou has been a regular donor to the state branches of the Liberal party in South Australia and Western Australia, and also donated to the federal Liberal party.
According to the public register of the South Australian electoral commission, AusGold businesses associated with Zou have donated more than $300,000 to the South Australian Liberal party in the 12 months between 1 March 2017 and 1 March 2018, including donations of $88,888 and $8,888.88, in a nod to the lucky nature of the number eight in Chinese culture.
She is also a supporter of the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, for whom she set up the Julie Bishop Glorious Foundation Pty Ltd in 2016. Bishop denied any knowledge of the foundation.
The colourful figure owns a Rolls-Royce emblazoned with the Australian flag and has spent thousands of dollars on unusual advertisements in local newspapers, including a full-page ad promoting her search for a home in Adelaide.
Despite her high profile, little is known of Zou’s business activities, aside from an abandoned plan to set up a mining operation in Broken Hill, which sits on the border between South Australia and New South Wales. She has been linked to the Chinese government, and contractors in Australia have complained of delayed payments eventually delivered, on one occasion, in a backpack filled with $120,000 in cash.
Zou has not responded to Guardian Australia requests for comment.
