Siru Zheng (centre) is the only one out of her two co-defendants, a man and the first woman arrested, who can legally be named. Photos: AFP/Albert McKnight.
The prosecution of an alleged Chinese spy ring has suffered a major blow as prosecutors have dropped all of the allegations made against one of the trio.
Three Chinese nationals were accused of spying on Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door for the Chinese Government. Region has previously obtained court documents outlining the allegations against them.
When the first woman was arrested in 2025, it was the first time in Australia that a person had been charged with foreign interference that involved targeting members of the community.
She and a man charged over the allegations legally cannot be identified, while the third person alleged to have made up their trio of spies was 32-year-old Siru Zheng.
All three pleaded not guilty to reckless foreign interference, and the case has slowly been making its way through the ACT Magistrates Court.
But on Wednesday (30 September), the court heard that prosecutors from the Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions were withdrawing the charge laid against the man.
“That’s effectively the end of the proceedings for him,” said barrister Anthony Williamson SC, who represented all three defendants.
In court documents, police said they raided the man’s home in December 2025. He then allegedly admitted that the first woman had sent him several questions about Guan Yin Citta and that he had collated 99 gigabytes of data about the movement before sending it to her.
While the withdrawal of his charge is a major change to the overall allegations, prosecutors are still pursuing the first woman and Ms Zheng.
In fact, the court heard that the first woman had been handed a new charge of intentional foreign interference.
The Commonwealth prosecutor asked to adjourn the case against the pair as there was still outstanding material for the brief of evidence.
Mr Williamson said he was happy to give prosecutors as long as they needed to file the remainder of the evidence, as he did not want the matter to keep returning to court only to be adjourned again.
Magistrate Ian Temby adjourned the matter to 12 December, but he also urged authorities to “get their skates on” as he said there shouldn’t be any more adjournments.
The magistrate also ordered all the legal costs to be paid for the man. In addition, he ordered legal costs for the latest adjournment to be paid for the first woman and Ms Zheng.
Bail has been continued for the two remaining defendants.
The first woman’s name had been suppressed out of concern that publishing it could prejudice her case, while the man’s name was suppressed on national security grounds.
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