Chau Chak Wing

Chau Chak Wing (周泽荣; born 1954), also known as Zhou Zerong, is a Chinese-born Australian property developer and billionaire philanthropist known for his business Kingold Group based in Guangzhou, China. He is a citizen of Australia, and known for the $70 million dollar purchase of the house of James Packer in 2015. He donated $20 million for the construction of the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building, part of the University of Technology of Sydney in Sydney, Australia, and another $15 million for the construction of a new museum in the University of Sydney.

According to a claims in a recent Fairfax / ABC media report, Chau was given a code name in an FBI investigation in the case of the bribery of the former president of the United Nations General Assembly, John Ashe. The media report suggested a business connected with Chau indirectly paid $200,000 in November 2013 to Mr Ashe to speak at a Convention via Sheri Yan, an Australian-Chinese suspected by ASIO of undertaking influences on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party. The report clearly stated "there is no suggestion Dr Chau knew it was illegal". Chau strenuously denied any wrongdoing and has been the subject of no action by the FBI. In December 2016 he launched a defamation against Fairfax Media alleging he had been defamed in a previous article about the same subject.

A joint Four Corners and Fairfax Media investigation claimed that Chau, among others, was the subject of a briefing by ASIO warning of Chinese government influence over the Australian political system. No evidence to support the claim was produced. In a follow-up media story in The Australian, Chau said that claims he was an agent of Chinese soft power were "irrational". He said successive governments since the Howard era had sought his help in promoting Australian interests in China, including being asked to lobby for Australia to win a $150 billion LNG deal with China in 2001. "In relation to Australian companies, if Australian businesses needed my assistance for development in China, I have been quietly helping them ... this has been recognised by the Australian government. I have promoted trade, Australia tourism, business and education without seeking personal gain or any favour in return. In fact it has been more a case of exercising Australian soft power in China."

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