In the first of four articles examining political donations in New Zealand, Pete McKenzie reports that leading academics are concerned our major political parties are using ‘barely legal’ tactics to hide the source of large sums of money. In May, news broke that donors to the Labour Party were being prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office over breaches of campaign finance laws. Remarkably, four of the six parties that have recently held seats in.
Labour Party donation case: Six appear in court to face SFO charges
(Photo / NZ Herald) Mon, 24 May 2021, 2:03PM
Six people charged by the Serious Fraud Office over allegations of an unlawful Labour Party donation have had their first day in court.
The accused were called before Judge Brooke Gibson and a full press gallery of journalists this morning in the Auckland District Court. This isn t a jury trial is it? Judge Gibson joked of the reporters sitting in the jury box. Not a very good jury, he uttered.
Much of what was discussed during the 20-minute hearing, however, was suppressed by the judge, including the identities of the accused.
Auckland District Court.
Photo: RNZ / Claire Eastham-Farrelly
They were charged by the agency earlier this month following an investigation launched last year.
The defendants appeared before Judge Brooke Gibson at the Auckland District Court this morning, their first appearance, where a large media contingent was present.
The six people are accused of trying to conceal the true identity of the donor who paid at least $34,840 to the Labour Party in 2017.
Each defendant is facing two charges of obtaining the donation by deception .
Documents previously released by the Auckland High Court alleged the group adopted a fraudulent device, trick or stratagem so as to conceal the full amount of the donation and identity of the donor.
allege the six provided the donor “freedom from any public scrutiny.” Five names were also allegedly used to create the illusion of five donations of sums less than $15,000 to conceal the full amount and the identity of the donor, court documents show.
Tom Hunt/Stuff
Six people have been charged over election donations made to the Labour Party. (File photo) Paul Wicks QC, on behalf of the SFO, did not oppose name suppression, which was granted on an interim basis for all six defendants. The six defendants initially sat in the public gallery but were ordered by Judge Gibson to enter the dock, so media could take photographs and video of them, which cannot be published pending another hearing on name suppression.