Bridges: PM must stand down Peters
National Party leader Simon Bridges has called for the prime minister to stand down her deputy, Winston Peters, due to a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into the NZ First Foundation.
The SFO announced yesterday that it would be investigating the foundation following the Electoral Commission’s finding last week that some donations to the foundation should have been declared by the party itself. The matter was referred to the police before finding its way to the SFO.
NZ First leader Winston Peters has maintained that he has little to do with the foundation and said the foundation had legal advice showing its conduct was legal.
Documents seen by Stuff suggest the foundation acted as a kind of political slush fund for the main party, taking in donor money and spending it on partyrelated expenses such as party headquarters, graphic design, an MP’s legal advice, and even a $5000 day at the Wellington races.
Bridges told Magic Talk that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern needed to stand down Peters over the matter.
‘‘Jacinda Ardern needs to stand Winston Peters down, her deputy prime minister. She can’t do this see no evil, hear no evil routine. He needs to be stood down,’’ Bridges said.
His deputy, Paula Bennett, echoed this statement, pointing to the fact Peters stood aside from his portfolios when the SFO investigated him in 2008 over another donations matter – of which Peters was cleared.
‘‘Quite frankly by his own standards he should stand down, that’s what he did in 2008,’’ Bennett said.
‘‘Helen Clark stepped in and stepped up all those years ago. The only difference between now and then in my opinion is the leader of the Labour Party.’’
Asked if this comparison made sense given the SFO was now investigating the foundation rather than the party itself, Bennett said this was ‘‘dancing on the head of a pin’’.
‘‘New Zealanders can see through this.’’
Bennett was asked if, by this logic, Bridges should have stood down as leader while the SFO investigated donations to National which have resulted in criminal charges. She said Bridges was not in Government.
Peters said he was confident in the face of the SFO probe.
‘‘We’d like the truth to be out there and not a bunch of false allegations.’’
Asked if he would stand down as he had in 2008, he said the difference was that the SFO had been investigating him – and said the Electoral Commission hadn’t even spoke to him this time around.
Ardern said natural justice meant she would withhold her judgment until the outcome of the SFO probe.
‘‘We need to await the outcome of any potential investigation. That is under way, we need to let them do their job,’’ Ardern said.
Details of the NZ First Foundation were uncovered in a Stuff investigation in November 2019, showing that it appeared to act as a slush fund for the party.
Bank records, invoices and emails revealed about half a million dollars in donations between 2017 and 2019 had entered into the foundation bank account. Most were tagged as donations in their description.
Meanwhile, court documents seen by Stuff show that a separate SFO prosecution into donations to the National Party involve two $100,000 donations, rather than one as previously assumed.
Bridges said yesterday he had ‘‘no knowledge’’ about the second donation.
That SFO probe, which followed a complaint from former National MP Jami-Lee Ross, has resulted in four people facing criminal charges under the Electoral Act.