Arabic version: فالنتاين يي يتلقى أمر إصلاح مجتمعي لمدة عامين

According to ABC News, Sydney restaurateur Valentine Yee has avoided jail after being sentenced to a two-year community corrections order for giving false or misleading evidence to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Yee, 52, pleaded guilty to two counts relating to evidence given during 2019 ICAC hearings into a $100,000 donation to NSW Labor from billionaire property developer Huang Xiangmo. He initially said he had made a $5,000 Labor donation using “lucky money”, then admitted signing a false declaration to disguise the true origin of the 2015 donation.

In the NSW Local Court, Judge John Sfinas said the two lies concerned the false $5,000 donation and a $10,000 donation from Emperor’s Garden. The maximum penalty for giving false or misleading evidence to ICAC is five years in prison.

Judge Sfinas considered Yee’s remorse, lack of criminal history, the lower-end objective seriousness of the lies and the length of time the prosecution had been hanging over him. But he described the conduct as “egregious”, saying lies to ICAC could allow corruption in the state to go uncovered. Yee had said he was helping his brother, Jonathan, then president of Chinese Friends of Labor.

Yee’s parents own Emperor’s Garden in Sydney’s Chinatown, whose Hay Street bakery and restaurant closed earlier this month. Jonathan Yee has been charged with a suite of offences and is yet to enter a plea, while May Ho Yee has also been charged with giving false or misleading evidence at a public inquiry. Valentine Yee declined to comment after leaving the Downing Centre.