A Chinese solar power businessman allegedly tried to bribe a Commonwealth official at a meeting in Brisbane by slipping them $20,000 hidden in a bag of tea.

Guoxin Zhu, 39, was arrested at Sydney Airport on Friday, before being extradited to Brisbane to appear in court on Monday.

Police said he met with a Commonwealth official in the south Brisbane suburb of Camp Hill earlier this month, and allegedly handed her a bag of tea containing cash.

It is alleged the money was for business gain, and Zhu has been charged with one count of offering a secret commission to an agent.

Queensland detectives worked with investigators from the Australian Federal Police and the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) before Zhu was arrested while trying to board an international flight out of Sydney.

Zhu appeared at a bail hearing in Surry Hills in Sydney’s inner east on Saturday, where it was ruled he would be extradited to Queensland.

Zhu’s lawyer, Mark Williams, told the court his client was a Shenzhen-based manager for a solar panel company who flew to Australia three or four times a year to liaise with the Clean Energy Council, with the aim of making the product available on the Australian market.

Williams said Zhu was not trying to flee, but simply did not know he was under investigation.

“He had no idea. He’d booked a flight, a return flight, back to China because his business dealings had been completed. So why wouldn’t he be on that flight?” he said.

Williams argued Zhu should receive bail on the conditions that he surrender his passport, not attempt to leave Queensland, and report to the court as often as necessary.

“The penalty, in my respectful submission, if convicted, I would have thought would attract a non-custodial outcome,” he told the court.

“If he’s already spent two days in custody, that’s probably more time than he would otherwise receive as a penalty in any event.”

Prosecutor Megan O’Brien said Zhu was a flight risk, and argued the only reason he was unable to leave the country was because of an alert tagged to his passport, and he should remain in custody.

Magistrate Clare Kelly refused Zhu’s bail application.

The matter will return to the Brisbane Magistrates Court on August 5.