Banned Chinese political donor Huang Xiangmo and his wife have lost their bid to overturn freezing orders placed on their assets over a $140 million tax bill claim.
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The Federal Court on Monday ordered that the businessman and his wife's assets remain frozen, due to the nine-figure tax bill issued by the Australian Taxation Office on September 11 for the 2013, 2014 and 2015 tax years.
Assets on the freezing order, made by Justice Anna Katzmann in September, included two Chatswood homes worth an estimated $3.28 million and a $12.8 million Mosman mansion.
Mr Huang and his wife Jiefang Huang, sought an expedited hearing on a challenge to the freezing orders - in respect of Mr Huang's assets outside of Australia, in particular in Hong Kong and China.
The challenge was also made as to whether the freezing order made against Mrs Huang - which related only to the $12 million property in Mosman - should continue at all.
Mr Huang, also known as Huang Changran, has been implicated in several recent Australian political scandals.
His association with Sam Dastyari led to the Labor senator's downfall and he remains a central figure in a NSW anti-corruption commission inquiry over a $100,000 cash donation given to the NSW Labor Party.
The property developer left Australia for China on December 4, 2018, amid the tax audit, and was later barred from re-entering Australia or obtaining a passport.
In her original judgment, Justice Katzmann said Mrs Huang left Australia "presumably" to join her husband on September 11, the same day the ATO issued a notice of assessment of shortfall penalty for $140,925,953.98.
Australian Associated Press
