Woman allegedly paid for silence

WELLINGTON: The National Party president is alleged to have brokered a confidentiality agreement with a woman who claimed she had been harassed by former National Party MP JamiLee Ross.

The deal was done sometime in the last two years, The New Zealand Herald reported last night.

Concerns have emerged that the party required the woman who complained about Mr Ross’ alleged harassment and bullying behaviour to sign a confiden tiality agreement after she raised concerns with party bosses.

A source said the deal was brokered by party president Peter Goodfellow.

A National Party spokesman said last night Mr Goodfellow had nothing further to add to a statement he issued earlier yesterday in which he said: ‘‘Any issues that we were aware of that were raised, were dealt with at the time. We have nothing further to add at this time.’’

Radio New Zealand reported Mr Goodfellow facilitated a ‘‘gentlemen’s agreement’’ with a woman who complained about Mr Ross’ bullying behaviour, preventing her from speaking publicly about Mr Ross’ conduct.

That complaint was made a couple of years ago, about the time the agreement was struck. National leader Simon Bridges was not the party’s leader at the time, RNZ reported.

The revelations follow a

Newsroom report yesterday detailing two anonymous women’s ‘‘toxic’’ sexual affairs with Mr Ross.

Two others told the website they had been harassed and bullied by the former Botany MP.

Mr Ross issued a statement yesterday saying he would not comment on the report and that he was assessing his legal options.

He also released text messages yesterday relating to an alleged $100,000 donation. Mr Ross has linked the donation to allegations of electoral fraud involving Mr Bridges.

Mr Bridges has denied any wrongdoing, labelling Mr Ross, his former friend, a leaker, liar and a ‘‘terrible person’’.

Neither the texts nor a secret recording Mr Ross released this week between him and Mr Bridges have shown evidence of illegal activity.

But the recording was embarrassing for Mr Bridges, capturing him referring to one of his MPs as ‘‘f***ing useless’’, forcing him to issue a public apology.