Labour MP contacted three trial defendants
Days after three businessmen were charged regarding National Party donations, Labour’s then chief whip Michael Wood was tasked with trying to piece together information about an art auction and who purchased five paintings, a court heard.
The Crown’s case is that sham donors were used and put forward by men on the inside of both parties to disguise the true donor, businessman Yikun Zhang, who was then given a royal honour.
Jami-Lee Ross, a former National MP, and three businessmen – Zhang, Shijia (Colin) Zheng and Hengjia (Joe) Zheng – have all denied charges relating to National Party donations.
Zhang and the two Zheng brothers also face charges alongside two men and a woman, who have interim name suppression, in relation to donations made to the Labour Party in 2017.
Yesterday at the High Court at Auckland, Wood, who was Labour’s former chief whip, told the court he contacted the three defendants with name suppression.
Labour’s campaign manager Hayden Munro asked him to make calls about the June 2017 art auction to make sure there was accurate information to provide to media.
‘‘He [Munro] was confident we’d met our obligations,’’ Wood said.
The Crown’s case is the art auction was a ‘‘sham’’ and despite five names being put forward to the Labour Party as the donors, Zhang was the true donor.
In February 2020, Wood called the three defendants with name suppression who he knew had been associated with the auction in June 2017. In a phone call, he asked who had purchased the paintings, how much they paid and whether they still had the paintings.
When asked by prosecutor John Dixon, QC, if Wood knew one of the men’s name had been put forward as a purchaser, he said he didn’t.
Wood said he wasn’t able to get particular information from the three defendants with name suppression regarding the paintings.
Under cross-examination by Sam Lowery, acting for one of the men with name suppression, Wood agreed the phone call was brief and he couldn’t say specifically whether he asked about paintings or items.
‘‘He gave a general assurance it had been above board and kosher, but I was unable to get specific information,’’ Wood said.
The MP said the man was unable to say who specifically purchased the paintings.
The trial before Justice Ian Gault continues.