ICAC: Clifton Wong found dead in office days after giving evidence

Friends of a Sydney man who was found dead days after he gave evidence to NSW’s corruption watchdog have described him as a “tireless worker for his community”.

Former Hurstville Labor councillor Clifton Wong, 62, was found dead on Wednesday, just two days after he took the witness stand at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

NSW Police said emergency crews responded to reports a 62-year-old man had died in an office building on Deane St in the Sydney suburb of Burwood at about 1.20pm on Wednesday.

ICAC commissioner Stephen Rushton SC made a statement from the bench during Friday’s public hearing.

“We are shocked and saddened by the news regarding the death of Clifton Wong, who was a witness in the current public inquiry,” Mr Rushton said.

“Our thoughts are with Mr Wong’s family, and we extend to them our deepest sympathy for what has occurred.”

Police are investigating the death and will prepare a report for the coroner, but at the moment officers don’t believe there are any suspicious circumstances.

“Initial inquiries indicate the death is not suspicious; however, inquiries are continuing by Burwood detectives with a post-mortem examination being conducted this week,” a police statement said.

The Georges River Council, which swallowed up the former Hurstville and Kogarah councils in a 2016 merger, said in a statement councillors were shocked by the news.

“Georges River Council is shocked and saddened by the news regarding the death of former Hurstville Councillor, Clifton Wong,” the council said.

“We send our condolences to his family and loved ones.”

A former candidate for the state seat of Cabramatta, Andrew Su, wrote on Facebook he became friends with Mr Wong through his work with the former multiculturalism party Unity.

“I am shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of Clifton Wong, one of the many friends that I made during my time with the Unity Party,” Mr Su wrote.

“Clifton and I had many conversations about both the mundane and the controversial.

“We worked together on many a campaign and he was a tireless worker for his community and was one of the few members of the Unity Party that was successful enough to serve his community in an official capacity as a councillor on Hurstville Council.

“My condolences to his family. Rest in Peace.”

A former Liberal candidate for the state seat of Kogarah, Scott Yung, responded to the post with his own tribute.

“Clifton was a wonderful man. He genuinely wanted to do good for his community. Deepest condolences to his family and may his soul,” Mr Yung wrote.

The ICAC probe that Mr Wong gave evidence in is examining whether a group of councillors had sought and accepted benefits for dishonestly doing their job in order to favour developers.

After the news of his death was mentioned at Friday’s hearing, a planned hearing for Monday was scrapped.

The commission said it would reorganise next week’s hearing schedule, reconvene on Tuesday, and publish a revised witness list “in due course”.

The ICAC is trying to find out whether the councillors, former Hurstville and Georges Rivers councillors Constantine Hindi and Vincenzo Badalati, and Hurstville councillor Philip Sansom, accepted overseas flights and accommodation from people with interests in planning matters affecting the Treacy St and Landmark Square developments in Hurstville.

The commission is also probing whether Mr Hindi was handed $10,000 cash by one of the people as a reward for actions related to a different development.

According to Mr Wong’s Monday ICAC interview, he had initially been a person of interest to the inquiry when it began in November.

However, he told the commission he learnt by reading an “investigation list” on the commission’s website he was no longer considered a person of interest.

“I wasn’t told that, you know. I wasn’t formally told that I was not a person of interest by any party,” he said during his evidence.

The commission was told Mr Wong was a witness to the envelope of cash being handed over.

“This sort of thing, you and I know very well that it is not only immoral, it is illegal,” he told the commission.

He said he wished he had reported it when he saw it and explained that he failed to because he panicked.

“I panicked and I was shocked and honestly I, well, as I said, you know, I didn’t know how to respond,” he said.

Mr Wong was first elected to the Hurstville City Council in 1999.

After he declined to seek re-election in 2012, Mr Wong was awarded with a Service Award by his former colleagues.

They praised him for his 13 years of work at the council and for “raising the council’s understanding with many Chinese community organisations and enhancing our Sister City relationship with Changzhou”.

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