Apparently, though, after 10 years in prison, the man has won the sympathy of some in local media. The ABC (A for Australian) TV program Four Corners on April 7 raised doubts about the quality of evidence in the case of former city councillor from Fairfield, New South Wales, Phuong Ngo (Vietnamese: Ngô C?nh Ph??ng, photo, from here).

OK so he’s not Vietnamese-American, but he’s still part of the Vietnamese diaspora, so the Bolsavik thinks he should get an entry, given the notoriety of his case.

Ngo has been in jail for 10 years for ordering the 1994 murder of Australian state MP John Newman. It took three trials to convict him; the first two resulting in one aborted trial and one hung jury.

A friend of Newman and former Fairfield mayor Ken Chapman explained, as quoted by the Fairfield Champion newspaper here:

“I firmly believe Ngo did it, and it was political, but it wasn’t because Ngo wanted Newman’s seat. Newman had passed information about Ngo’s dealings at the Mekong Club to ICAC, which showed how deep Ngo’s hands had been in the club’s pockets.”

According to the Four Corners program, as told by the Fairfield Advance here, “a total of 10 witnesses were offered indemnity (Ozziespeak for “immunity”) against prosecution if they gave evidence against Phuong Ngo.”

The program said that two men known only as “Tony” and “John” agreed to change their testimony and pointed fingers at Ngo after investigators allegedly offered them “overseas protection, money and indemnity against prosecution.”

A current Vietnamese-Australian Fairfield councillor, Dennis Huynh, thought that the case should be re-opened.

In a followup, ABC announced here: ”New South Wales Attorney-General John Hatzistergos says he will consider reviewing the conviction of the man jailed over the 1994 murder of the state MP John Newman, but says reviews are only granted in exceptional circumstances.”

Chapman, for one, remained unconvinced. He said, “Most of the evidence in the program has been tested before and settled, so I was a bit surprised to see it come up again but nothing has changed.”