Act considers police complaint

Seymour says Kiwis need to know what donations were for

Act Leader David Seymour is considering going to the police over whether donations to the New Zealand First Foundation were lawful. “One way or another, someone has to get at what those people [donors] were being told because they could have been misled when they made their donations.”

He told the Herald it was important to know what the donations were being used for.

A police complaint could mean the authorities would be forced to look into the issue and make a decision to investigate further, regardless of what the Electoral Commission says after it has looked into the matter.

Stuff reported that the NZ First Foundation appeared to have hidden political donations worth almost $500,000 between April 2017 and March this year. Many of the apparent donations do not appear on the party’s electoral returns.

Money from the foundation had been spent on office furniture, staff overtime and legal bills, it was reported.

New Zealand First Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, told media at Parliament any notion of wrongdoing by NZ First was “fake news”.

He said the Electoral Commission would exonerate the party, which will be working with the commission “soon”.

But police could still get involved. “Anyone can make a police complaint,” said Otago electoral law specialist Professor Andrew Geddis.

The Electoral Commission has to report suspected offences to the police — “but for anyone else, it’s up to them to do so”.

This time last year, nowindependent MP Jami-Lee Ross took concerns he had about National Party donations directly to the police, who then referred the matter to the Serious Fraud Office.

Meanwhile, data compiled by the Parliament library reveals the $342,129.27 in anonymous donations New Zealand First received in 2017 dwarfs that of all other political parties combined.

That compares with $28,270 for the National Party and $26,400 for Labour, the data compiled for National’s Nick Smith shows.

Under New Zealand’s electoral law, donations more than $15,000 must be declared. Anything under that, however, remains anonymous.

Political commentator and public relations consultant and lobbyist Matthew Hooton told Newstalk ZB his company, Exceltium PR, gave $10,000 to “either the New Zealand First Party or the Foundation — I’m not sure who it was”.

When contacted by the Herald, Hooton would not comment further on the donation.

Property investor and rich-lister Sir Robert Jones told the Herald that major political parties have always hidden the names of major donors as they “want to avoid the impression of being beholden to them”.

Jones himself was at the heart of the 2008 NZ First donation scandal. At the time, it was revealed that Jones — along with fellow rich-lister Owen Glenn — had donated to the party.

“Conversely, the donors have an image concern, the cynical assumption being they want something in return. Sometimes that’s the case but not always, rather the motive is simply supporting the system,” he told the

They could have been misled when they made their donations. David Seymour, Act MP