Referred to police over undeclared donations
WELLINGTON: The Maori Party has been referred to police for failing to disclose about $320,000 worth of donations within the required timeframe.
The Electoral Commission announced it had referred the Maori Party to the police over the failure to disclose large donations from three people or entities, including donations totalling $158,223.72 from former party coleader John Tamihere.
There was also a total of $48,879.85 from the Urban Maori Authority, donated between last May and September, and a single $120,000 donation in July from Aotearoa Te Kahu Ltd Partnership.
The commission is also looking into a late disclosure by the
National Party.
The returns show National was also late to disclose donations from real estate identity Garth Barfoot, a regular donor.
Mr Barfoot gave $15,000 in May, a further $10,000 in October and another $10,000 on November 11.
The November donation tipped Mr Barfoot over the $30,000 threshold, but the donations were not disclosed by the party until March 31.
The commission said it had asked for an explanation from the National Party and was still assessing the matter.
It did not automatically refer all late donations to the police, but considered issues such as the party’s past record and the timeframes involved.
A National spokesman declined to set out the reasons for the late disclosure:
‘‘We keep in regular contact with the Electoral Commission, particularly in regard to supplying information and explanations on the disclosure of donations.’’
Maori Party president Che Wilson put the late disclosure down to ‘‘rookie’’ mistakes, saying the party executive had misinterpreted the law.
‘‘When we did our cleanup of everything, we realised we needed to report that, so we made contact with the Electoral Commission straight away.’’
Mr Wilson said Mr Tamihere paid for some party costs out of his own pocket and the party had not realised it was supposed to treat those as donations.
Both he and party secretary Rose Waetford were in their first elections in the role, and the party was run by volunteers.
Under electoral laws, political parties must disclose donations of more than $30,000 within 10 working days.
The commission has also referred an unnamed candidate to the police for ‘‘election expenditure and alleged nondisclosure of candidate donations’’. — The New Zealand Herald