Sydney restaurateur gets community order after lying to anti-corruption commission

Valentine Yee, whose family runs the former Emperor's Garden eatery in Sydney’s Chinatown, was convicted of providing false statements to the Independent Commission Against Corruption during its 2019 probe of a $100,000 donation from billionaire Huang Xiangmo to NSW Labor. He initially claimed a $5,000 “lucky money” donation and later acknowledged signing a false declaration to hide the true source of a 2015 contribution, actions intended to protect his brother, Jonathan, then president of Chinese Friends of Labor.

In the NSW Local Court, Judge John Sfinas imposed a two-year community corrections order, citing Yee’s lack of prior offences and genuine remorse, while emphasizing that such deception undermines anti-corruption efforts. Defence counsel James Glissan KC argued Yee acted out of misplaced loyalty rather than personal gain. The sentencing follows earlier convictions of two other individuals linked to the same investigation. Meanwhile, the Yee family’s other restaurant on Thomas Street remains open, but the Hay Street venue has closed and faces a tax claim exceeding $845,000 from the Australian Taxation Office.