The businessman at the centre of the political furore over Senator Sam Dastyari wrote a cheque for $2000 to a Labor candidate at last year's state election who he has never met.
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Kogarah MP Chris Minns says he has no idea how the businessman, Top Education Group chief Minshen Zhu, came to nominate his campaign on the cheque, written on March 17 last year.
The organiser of the Chinese Friends of Labor event for which donation was made, Labor MLC Ernest Wong, has previously said he has "no knowledge" of the donation.
But on Monday he said: "I suggest to members of the Chinese community that if they want to support Labor then they should do so in areas where there is a large number of Chinese people living there."
"Chinese people make up about 40 per cent of Kogarah. The cheque was never cashed."
Kogarah has the highest percentage of people of Chinese descent in Australia - a fact noted by Mr Minns in his inaugural speech a month after the cheque was written, during which he called for mandatory Mandarin lessons for NSW schoolchildren.
Senator Dastyari last week quit the opposition front bench over his declaration to parliament that at his request Top Education had paid a $1670 overspend in his office travel entitlement.
The following day Fairfax Media reported that the whereabouts of the $2000 cheque remained a mystery more than a year after it was written.
Election funding records shows the donation was for the annual Chinese Friends of Labor event held at The Eight restaurant in Sydney's Chinatown four days earlier and attended by more than 600 guests.
However, a return lodged with the NSW Electoral Commission by Top Education states: "Cheque received by ALP but hasn't been banked yet."
The cheque was never received by the party office and Top Education has declined to comment.
But Mr Minns has since revealed the cheque was received by his office.
He said it was never cashed it as it was not accompanied with a form stating that Dr Zhu and Top Education were entitled to donate to NSW election campaigns.
"When my campaign received the cheque in March 2015 it did not have the required documentation to ensure it came from an eligible donor," Mr Minns said.
"In the absence of that we decided to err on the side of caution and not process the donation."
However, election funding records show NSW Labor accepted a $1000 donation from Top Education on April 17 tied to a fundraiser hosted by Senator Dastyari at Sydney's Chinatown restaurant.
Senator Dastyari has said there is no link between the cheque and the payment of his travel debt.
