Bridges phone call released
Rogue MP Jami-Lee Ross has released the tape of him and National leader Simon Bridges discussing a $100,000 donation, in which Bridges describes one of his MPs as ‘‘f ...... useless’’.
Ross released the tape yesterday after handing it over to police, who are now looking into his allegation of electoral fraud levied against Bridges.
In the taped phone call, Ross reminds Bridges of the $100,000 donations, which Bridges says is ‘‘fantastic’’.
Bridges and Ross then mull over how to get the donation to the National Party, with Bridges saying he has to ‘‘find the right words’’ to talk to party president Peter Goodfellow.
Bridges says he needs the money for advertisements that are ‘‘not quite outside of the party’’.
Ross and Bridges then discuss how the Chinese donors are keen to get more than one ethnically Chinese MP, with Ross saying ‘‘two Chinese would be more valuable than two Indians...’’
They decide to send one person to ‘‘candidate college’’ but leave more decisions for later on.
Bridges discusses a cull of his list MPs, noting that low-ranked MP Maureen Pugh is ‘‘f ...... useless’’.
After talking to police for about two hours in Wellington yesterday, Ross said he didn’t know if the police believe he has a reasonable case, but they did spend two hours talking.
‘‘It’s up to the police now.’’ Asked how long he had been recording his colleagues, Ross says this was not a habit, but, after the allegations of harassment three weeks ago, he started to record meetings.
‘‘That’s when I decided that I needed to protect myself,’’ Ross said.
The Botany MP has caused days of political chaos with his bold allegations about Bridges, his former ally and party leader, all of which Bridges denies.
He has resigned from the party and pledged to stand in a byelection to contest the Auckland seat of Botany.
His main allegation against Bridges concerns a $100,000 donation from businessman Zhang Yikun.
Ross said he did not have evidence Bridges asked him to split the donation up. He said he didn’t tape that conversation. But he said the recording would still make clear that Bridges was asking for something corrupt to happen.
In a marathon press conference on Tuesday, Ross said Bridges asked him to take the donation and break it into smaller pieces from different donors, illegally making it anonymous.
Bridges has denied any illegal
‘‘[I have to] find the right words [to talk to party president Peter Goodfellow].’’
Simon Bridges in the phone call with Jami-Lee Ross over how to get a donation to the National Party
activity, and deputy leader Paula Bennett has suggested that Ross acted alone in any unlawful acts.
‘‘When you step back from it slightly it sounds like he has gone and collected that donation, that he has filed that claim. I’m worried for him as much as anyone else in all this,’’ Bennett said yesterday, cautioning that this was speculation.
Bridges did not answer detailed questions on the allegation in a media conference on Tuesday but was to speak to media late yesterday.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said the National Party was in serious trouble if the allegations by Ross stacked up.
The allegations were discoverable ‘‘and I don’t think he’s flying blind, I think he’s been well advised by a legal mind’’.
Bennett said Bridges had met with Zhang at least twice and it would not be surprising if they had discussed a donation, but Bridges had asked Ross to organise it – but not break it up. The first meeting was set up by Ross, Bennett said, so he continued to handle the donation.
‘‘What we have from Jami-Lee yesterday is him saying he actually rung Simon to entrap him,’’ Bennett said.
She said Bridges did not recall that conversation, so ‘‘hypothetically’’ there could be anything in there’’.
Bennett threw out the idea that the tape of the phone may be doctored, saying Bridges could not recall the conversation.
The party has not even found the donation yet, Bennett said.
‘‘What the party are telling us at the moment is they can’t find that donation, so I’m not sure which account – if he did collect it – which account he put it into.’’