Mr Shu’s fraud case is critical to the Chinese government’s efforts to discredit Mr Wang’s claims of widespread spying by Beijing from Hong Kong and Taiwan to Canberra.

Mr Shu said he would also pursue fraud charges against Mr Wang’s wife, whom the Financial Review has chosen not to name.

For Mr Shu, the fraud claims are the latest chapter in an already colourful life since his arrival in Australia seven years ago, as a masters student at Sydney University.

In that time the now 30-year-old has been a student organiser for the Australian Chinese Workers Association, a body overseen by the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department.

He was also a staffer in the office of Labor MP Matt Thistlethwaite, and worked for Ryde deputy mayor Simon Zhou’s gold companies, one of which collapsed with an unpaid $2.3 million tax bill.

ICAC inquiry to resume

In October, ICAC revealed that NSW Labor officials were left in the dark for almost seven weeks about who had donated $50,000 at the 2016 Chinese Friends of Labor dinner, before being presented with a list of eight donors including Mr Zhou and Mr Shu.

Mr Shu has now claimed $955,000 in a fraud action against Mr Wang, who is seeking asylum in Australia after claiming to have worked for a Chinese spy boss in Hong Kong.

While the Chinese government has used Mr Shu’s fraud case as a mechanism to discredit Mr Wang’s claims, it has allowed further scrutiny on the alleged meetings between his alleged spy boss, Xiang Xin, and Huang Xiangmo, who had his Australian permanent residency cancelled on the advice of ASIO last November.

The case centres on a business plan to divert German luxury cars made in China with right-hand drive for the Hong Kong market as imports into Australia, using Mr Shu’s BFJ group of companies.

The plan required a financier and someone with connections in China to smooth the way past government hurdles on the resale of vehicles.

Bank transfer

According to the defector Mr Wang, Mr Shu said he had access to a rich backer, in Huang Xiangmo, who was prepared to invest $20 million in the scheme, though the partners later had a falling out and the investment was never made.

As a proof of his financial resources and connection with Mr Huang, Mr Shu forwarded an email to the defector Mr Wang from his Australian bank on October 31 last year as part of an unrelated transfer.

The email used a bank email address and format no longer used by the bank, but which was current at the time it was sent. It stated that on October 30 Huang Changran (an alternative name for Huang Xiangmo) had paid a bank cheque for $600,000 into the account of BFJ Trading.

The transfer to BFJ Trading, a company Mr Shu set up in June 2018, was described as “Xin Shu loan”.

Mr Shu has confirmed to The Age that the defector Mr Wang put him in touch with his boss, Mr Xiang.

There is no suggestion that Mr Shu knew of or is involved in any interference operations involving Mr Huang at the time that he contacted Mr Xiang.

Mr Wang claims that Mr Huang subsequently had several meetings with Mr Xiang.

“Huang Xiangmo encountered problems and needed Xiang Xin’s help to do business in other countries,” Mr Wang said.

In response to Mr Wang’s spy claims on November 24 the Chinese Embassy posted a report: “On April 19, 2019, the Shanghai police opened an investigation into Wang who allegedly cheated 4.6 million yuan [$955,000] from a person surnamed Shu through a fake investment project involving car import in February.”

Filip Shu’s full name, Australian history and involvement in the saga was reported in Hong Kong media after it was first revealed by the Bastille Post website, which is partly owned by Sing Tao Newspapers, the second largest Chinese language newspaper in Hong Kong.

The Bastille Post reported that Mr Shu believed he was dealing with a Chinese national security officer who could help with the export of cars from China.

If true, this suggests Mr Shu believed not only Mr Wang but also his boss, Mr Xiang, were Chinese security officers or had connections into the security services.

Mr Xiang’s Hong Kong companies have denied any connection with Mr Wang, as has Mr Huang, who has tweeted 13 times attacking the reporting of Mr Wang’s asylum bid and claims of being at the centre of a major espionage operation.

“I don't even know Xiang Xin,” Mr Huang tweeted. “Wang Liqiang is a bad liar.”

While confirming his dispute with Mr Wang, Mr Shu declined to respond to further questions by the Financial Review.

Last month he told The Age that he had no financial links with Mr Huang, when questioned over $185,000 in donations that two of his companies made to the Labor Party in mid-2016.

Mr Huang, who had his Australian visa cancelled last November, is the subject of an investigation by the ICAC into an alleged $100,000 he donated illegally to the NSW Labor Party in 2015.

The ICAC inquiry resumes on Monday.

The Chinese government also claims Mr Wang was convicted of a $25,000 fraud, with state media releasing video of what appears to be his October 2016 trial.

The two-minute, 39-second clip comprises 13 sequences edited together, with signs of image enhancement and questions over the provenance of the two-second sequence which shows Mr Wang’s face with clarity.