Why the NZ First slush fund ‘could breach electoral law’

The NZ First Foundation, which has acted as a slush fund for the NZ First Party, is likely to have breached electoral law, says a legal expert.

Bank records, details of political donations transferred to the account and what the money was spent on have been uncovered in a Stuff investigation.

Public law expert Graeme Edgeler says the documents may be evidence of corrupt or illegal practices under the Electoral Act but who is to blame and what electoral laws may have been broken depends on whether the party is a separate entity or connected to the party. ‘‘If the foundation is separate, then the party secretaries may have committed corrupt or illegal practices around failing to declare donations,’’ he said.

‘‘If the foundation is part of NZ First, then the party secretary has likely committed offences around not declaring donations to the foundation and failing to keep records.’’ Other potential law breaches include sections 207B, 207E, 207N of the Electoral Act 1993 which govern the transmitting of party donations and ensuring proper records are kept.

For some of the possible offences it is too late for a prosecution to be launched under the Electoral Act. Likewise, expenses relating to the use of the party Nation Builder website were paid for by the foundation and not filed in election expenses.

Documents seen in the investigation show a legal letter accompanying a large donation of

$50,000 split up into four smaller donations of $12,500. A legal firm acted as a transmitter for the donations but the money was deposited into the foundation bank account, not the party accounts.

If the foundation was truly separate from NZ First, then there would be no need to conform to the donation limits around declaring political donations.

Edgeler says that if the foundation has been used to pay NZ First’s bills, those payments would be considered donations.

The sums of these donations add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars and, as such, needed to be declared and disclosed. The donation returns from the party secretary do not include these donations.

The foundation simply loans money to NZ First. But the records show these ‘‘loans’’ are issued and then immediately repaid by the party the following day. For example, on April 29, 2019, $44,923 was paid to the NZ First bank account and on April 30, 2019,

$44,923 was received into the foundation bank accounts from NZ First. Additional repayments of

$15,000 were then received by the foundation as a further repayment on this loan on May 22.