Peters wants apology after Court of Appeal judgment
The Serious Fraud Office has failed in its bid to appeal the High Court judgment finding two men found not guilty of fraudulently depositing money into an NZ First Foundation account, in breach of the Electoral Act, with Winston Peters asking for an apology.
The duo faced a judge-alone trial at the High Court at Auckland in 2022 after being charged by the Serious Fraud Office with two charges of obtaining by deception.
They were accused of transferring just under $750,000, which went on party expenses.
Justice Pheroze Jagose then found the pair not guilty and granted them permanent name suppression.
Yesterday, the Court of Appeal issued its judgment declining the Serious Fraud Office’s appeal.
In Justice Jagose’s judgment, he said he was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt the duo “retained control” of the money against a better claim to it.
However, he was not satisfied the money donated could be classed as party donations.
But, Justice Jagose said there was a casual relationship between the dishonest scheme and the retention of the money.
Justice Jagose said there was nothing inherently dishonest about one of the defendant’s accounts or the NZ First Foundation obtaining the money.
Peters said the “April 2020 attack” by the SFO “dramatically affected NZ First’s public image”.
He said NZ First is out of pocket by “hundreds of thousands of dollars” after defending itself in court.
“NZ First deserves an apology from those individuals in the complicit media for their relentless, venomous, biased, and politically motivated attacks directly prior to, and for the years following, the 2020 election.”
Peters said the Court of Appeal’s ruling reinforced there was no wrongdoing. “We want an apology.”
The SFO has been contacted for comment.