Little Cardboard Kevvy Liar maintains his treatment of the mushrooms by being vewy, vewy secretive about his contra deals . . . . . .
Rudd's Chinese 'sponsor' attracts scrutinyPRIME Minister Kevin Rudd is facing fresh scrutiny over his links with a mysterious Chinese entrepreneur, Ian Tang, who
has treated Mr Rudd and some of his ministers to thousands of dollars worth of free overseas trips.Despite being virtually unknown here, Mr Tang's company, Beijing AustChina Technology, has emerged as Australia's fourth biggest corporate political donor, with hundreds of thousands of dollars showered on both sides of politics.
The company may also be among the most generous provider of travel junkets to senior politicians, with
Mr Rudd and several of his ministers having gone overseas on Mr Tang's tab while they were in opposition.
Now The Age has learned that
Mr Rudd, Treasurer Wayne Swan and other high-profile recipients of Mr Tang's hospitality have held meetings with the businessman since November, when Labor won power.
Federal Agriculture Minister
Tony Burke (the most frequent of Mr Tang's flyers, with five sponsored trips while in opposition)
met the businessman last month, as did Mr Swan.
And a spokesman for Mr Rudd confirmed yesterday that he met Mr Tang in November, the month he won office.
The Age has also learned that Mr Tang spent $55,000 on a gala dinner at the Nationals' conference last August, when he dined with party leaders and corporate heavyweights.
The sponsorship of the function, which featured a crooner named "Alfio", was in addition to a $99,980 donation the company made to the Nationals before the federal election.
The revelations come after Mr Rudd and Mr Burke faced questions in Parliament yesterday over their links with Mr Tang and his company.
Mr Rudd was asked to table correspondence relating to a trip in 2006, when he went to the US, Britain, Darfur, Sudan and China at the expense of Mr Tang's company. He declined to table the correspondence.
Mr Burke was questioned about five trips that he took at the company's expense, and gave Parliament details of another trip to Manila that related to his then shadow portfolio of immigration.
He said he had disclosed all of the trips in accordance with parliamentary rules. But he
failed to answer a question about whether he had maintained contact with the company since becoming a cabinet minister.Last night, Mr Burke told The Age: "Ian Tang was in Australia last month. He caught up with politicians from both sides of politics, including me."
Mr Swan took trips to Beijing and Hong Kong in 2006 and to mainland China in July 2007.
Beijing AustChina Technology has donated more than $150,000 to the NSW branch of the ALP and, according to the Australian Electoral Commission, was the fourth largest corporate political donor in 2006-07.
The company says it provides "telecommunication and information technology solutions to the Chinese market place" and [b]boasts on its website of having "
close working relationships with key decision-makers and figureheads in government agencies in
both
Australia
and China"[/b].
No wonder Kevvy doesn't want his people to get a pay rise - they already have two jobs . . . . .
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