{"id":76222,"date":"2026-08-20T04:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T04:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/76222\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T04:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T04:15:10","slug":"growatt-official-guoxin-zhu-sentenced-over-20k-tea-gift-bribe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/76222\/","title":{"rendered":"Growatt official Guoxin Zhu sentenced over $20k tea gift bribe"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Australian official got the shock of a lifetime when she went to make a cup of tea and found a $20,000 bribe instead. <\/p>\n

Chinese renewable energy manager Guoxin Zhu, 40, pleaded guilty before Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday to one count of corruptly give or offer valuable consideration to influence favour in relation to principals affairs or business. <\/p>\n

The 40-year-old father has been in custody since late July when he was extradited to Queensland after his arrest at Sydney International Airport, where he was due to fly out of the country.<\/p>\n

The court was told Zhu travelled to Australia in July as part of his work as a senior official with the Chinese renewables firm Growatt.<\/p>\n

Zhu wished to expedite several of Growatt\u2019s applications for accreditation with Australia\u2019s Clean Energy Council, something the court was told would benefit the company\u2019s commercial standing.<\/p>\n

Zhu met with a representative from the council at a cafe in Camp Hill, in Brisbane, where he pleaded for the woman to move Growatt\u2019s applications forward. <\/p>\n

The woman advised him she could not, to which Zhu then offered to pay a fee; however, the woman denied him again.<\/p>\n

At his next meeting with the woman, Zhu again offered her a gift.<\/p>\n

The woman refused, telling Zhu she could not accept gifts, but he insisted the gift was only tea and was not of significant value. <\/p>\n

Wanting to respect Chinese customs, the woman accepted the gift but soon after opening found $20,000 nestled alongside the tea bags. <\/p>\n

\"Chinese<\/p>\n

The woman immediately alerted her superiors and confronted Zhu. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, I\u2019m sorry,\u201d the court was told Zhu said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know it is against the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defence barrister Saul Holt KC, instructed by Mark Williams from Potts Lawyers, advised the court Zhu did not intend to \u201cdisrespect Australia\u201d or \u201cAustralian culture\u201d with his bribe.<\/p>\n

The court was told the renewables manager came from an extremely impoverished upbringing in rural China and supported his elderly parents, children and family back home. <\/p>\n

Zhu claimed, in a statement, he did not realise the seriousness of the offence, noting it was a more accepted act in China.<\/p>\n

\u201cI committed this offence; I had no idea that this type of conduct was viewed so seriously against the law,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Magistrate Peter Saggers ordered Zhu to serve 12 months imprisonment and declared 26 days of pre-sentence custody as time served. <\/p>\n

Mr Saggers condemned Zhu for trying to manipulate his business dealings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has to be a level playing field, everyone has to have the same opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody who looks to get a benefit \u2026 that will be punished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Saggers further ordered Zhu\u2019s sentence be suspended for a period of 18 months after the time already served, immediately releasing Zhu into the community.<\/p>\n

Having been sentenced for his crime, the Chinese national will be deported from Australia and sent back to China at the earliest opportunity. <\/p>\n

Read related topics:China<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Australian official got the shock of a lifetime when she went to make a cup of tea…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[112671,112659,112642,112676,108706,112685,112683,5859,112640,49200,81549,9799,112678,38917,47073,66982,40994,112681,112669,112646,112650,112687,73500,112658,42207,52735,112670,37726,29408,112648,112684,22,23,8081,112667,21,99,1958,14862,112689,2285,112690,112660,112675,112643,28568,112668,3743,112692,37343,69178,112651,112645,44260,112665,112649,112652,112688,112656,44075,49071,6968,38590,59401,112673,112674,112679,1293,39707,53910,32658,3121,112655,112680,112664,212,38756,112653,112691,8309,112641,112644,112661,112654,112666,112657,36759,38322,112662,39856,112672,69579,76607,34680,50085,112663,112677,44662,106686,112639,36556,37141,112647,48976,7444,36894,112682,112686],"class_list":["post-76222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-applications","tag-s-biggest-renewable-energy-firms","tag-s-clean-energy-council","tag-s-commercial-standing-zhu","tag-s-sentence","tag-20k-bribe","tag-20k-tea-bribe","tag-5859","tag-000-bribe","tag-12-months","tag-18-months","tag-9799","tag-26-days","tag-38917","tag-a-20","tag-a-benefit","tag-a-cafe","tag-a-clean-energy-council-representative-the-woman","tag-a-cup","tag-a-fee","tag-a-gift-the-woman","tag-a-level-playing-field","tag-a-lifetime","tag-a-more-accepted-act","tag-a-period","tag-a-representative","tag-a-senior-official","tag-a-statement","tag-accreditation","tag-an-australian-official","tag-an-extremely-impoverished-upbringing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-culture","tag-australian-red-tape","tag-austrlia","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-magistrates-court","tag-camp-hill","tag-children-and-family","tag-china","tag-chinese-customs","tag-chinese-energy-boss","tag-chinese-man","tag-chinese-renewable-energy-manager-guoxin-zhu","tag-conduct","tag-corruptly","tag-custody","tag-defence-barrister-saul-holt-kc","tag-favour","tag-gifts","tag-growatt","tag-her-superiors","tag-his-arrest","tag-his-bribe-the-court","tag-his-business-dealings","tag-his-crime","tag-his-elderly-parents","tag-his-next-meeting","tag-his-way","tag-his-work","tag-imprisonment","tag-july","tag-late-july","tag-magistrate-peter-saggers","tag-mark-williams","tag-mr-saggers","tag-newswire-court","tag-no-idea","tag-one-count","tag-opening","tag-part","tag-potts-lawyers","tag-pre-sentence-custody","tag-principals-affairs-or-business","tag-queensland","tag-relation","tag-rural-china","tag-significant-value","tag-sydney-international-airport","tag-tea","tag-tea-gift","tag-the-40-year-old-father","tag-the-chinese-national","tag-the-chinese-renewables-firm-growatt-zhu","tag-the-community-having","tag-the-company","tag-the-council","tag-the-country-the-court","tag-the-court","tag-the-court-zhu","tag-the-earliest-opportunity","tag-the-gift","tag-the-law","tag-the-offence","tag-the-renewables-manager","tag-the-same-opportunity","tag-the-seriousness","tag-the-shock","tag-the-tea-bags","tag-the-time","tag-the-woman","tag-this-offence","tag-this-type","tag-thursday","tag-time","tag-valuable-consideration","tag-zhu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}