SYDNEY (Reuters) – The second person ever charged with violating Australia’s foreign interference laws appeared in a local court on Saturday (Apr 15) following his arrest a day earlier.
Alexander Csergo, 55, appeared via video link before a local court in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta and lawyers asked to adjourn the matter until Monday, which was granted by the judge, according to Reuters witnesses.
Court documents reviewed by Reuters on Saturday listed a charge of reckless foreign interference against Csergo, with the offence occurring between February 2021 and April 2023 in the Australian state of New South Wales and Shanghai.
That makes him the second person charged under the law, which criminalises activity that helps a foreign power interfere with Australia’s sovereignty or national interest, since it was passed in 2018.
Csergo is alleged to have intentionally engaged in conduct on behalf of or in collaboration with persons acting on behalf of a principal, and was “reckless as to whether the conduct would support intelligence activities of a foreign principal, and a part of the conduct was covert or involved deception”, the court document said.
Csergo had recently returned from China and was arrested on Friday at a residence in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bondi, according to neighbours.
