Name suppression case to get priority hearing
Name suppression for two people charged with fraud over the NZ First Foundation donations scandal will be considered at an urgent court hearing next week.
Stuff and Radio NZ yesterday sought to challenge the suppression orders on public interest grounds ahead of the election.
Stuff and RNZ understand lawyers for the SFO sought an urgent hearing of the name suppression issue earlier this week. The date was confirmed after Stuff and RNZ lodged their challenge.
On Tuesday, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said it had laid ‘‘obtaining by deception’’ charges against two people in relation to its investigation into the NZ First Foundation, an investigation sparked by reporting by Stuff and RNZ.
The SFO would not name the two people charged and both have interim name suppression but the investigators did say, in a statement, that ‘‘neither defendant is a minister, sitting MP, or candidate in the upcoming election (or a member of their staff), or a current member of the New Zealand First Party’’.
The order was expected to last until the two people charged appear in North Shore District Court on October 29 – after the general election on October 17, and possibly after any resulting coalition negotiations would have concluded.
In seeking to challenge the order, Stuff and RNZ argued for the need to examine any connections between the two people charged and the NZ First Party, and whether the party’s claims about the SFO were credible.
‘‘The voting public of New Zealand has a legitimate interest in knowing the defendants’ connections, if any, to the New Zealand First Party and in particular whether the New Zealand First media release, which is highly critical of the SFO, is fair and accurate,’’ Stuff and RNZ stated in a memorandum to the court.
NZ First leader Winston Peters on Tuesday claimed his party had been ‘‘exonerated’’ by
the outcome of the investigation, and attacked the SFO for an ‘‘appalling intrusion’’ in the election.
Peters alleged the SFO had abused its statutory powers and ‘‘has been unreasonable’’.
He promised to instruct lawyers to take the SFO to court and seek a declaration it had abused its authority.
The party had a week earlier battled the SFO in court over the statement that the office intended to issue about the charges, a court action that was unknown to the public until Tuesday evening. Peters on Tuesday claimed responsibility for challenging the SFO in court over the statement.
Court documents show NZ First sought to stop the SFO from revealing it had laid charges until a new Government was formed after the election.
NZ First’s lawyer, Fletcher Pilditch, told the court any announcement would damage the party’s prospects in the election and said the party claimed the SFO had rushed its investigation to get it out before the election.