New Zealand First Foundation scandal: accused couple allegedly deposited $ 740,000

Two people facing charges following a Serious Fraud Office investigation into New Zealand’s First Foundation have been charged with depositing more than $ 740,000 into foundation accounts.

In February, the Elections Commission said it believed the foundation “has received donations that should have been treated as party donations to New Zealand’s First Party.” The matter was referred to the police and later to the OFS.

Two people were charged on September 23 with obtaining by deception.

Collection documents obtained today by the Herald allege that the duo deposited $ 746,881 into two bank accounts, including an account belonging to the New Zealand First Foundation between September 30, 2015, and February 14 of this year.

The documents state that the money was deposited into the accounts with “the intent to deceive the donors of the money, the party secretary of the New Zealand First Party and / or the Election Commission.”

“The defendants adopted a fraudulent device, trick or ploy, whereby party donations for the party were entered into the bank accounts of [suppressed] and the New Zealand First Foundation and not notified to the party secretary, nor declared by the party secretary to the Election Commission, ”the documents allege.

“Those undeclared funds became available for [suppressed]/ New Zealand First Foundation to be used as the defendants saw fit, and were used to pay for party expenses and to develop a fundraising database for the benefit of the party and [suppressed]. “

The couple appeared in court today where Robert Stewart, acting on behalf of the Herald’s publisher NZME, Stuff and RNZ, was ready to challenge the suppression orders surrounding the case.

None of the accused was a minister, acting deputy or party candidate.

The two defendants were granted name suppression until they appeared in court again on October 29, but the media asked to challenge the order on public interest grounds given the October 17 election.

New Zealand’s First Party Leader Winston Peters questioned the timing of the OFS’s decision to press charges, which came a day before overseas voting began and a few days before early voting began.

The distinction that the party was “completely separate” from the foundation would be lost for some, he said.

The foundation’s activities came under scrutiny this year on whether it had lent or provided money to the party for purposes that benefit the party and its parliamentarians and, if so, whether they had properly declared themselves.

Party statements showed the foundation was listed as having made a loan of $ 73,000 to NZ First for 2017, $ 76,622 for 2018 and $ 44,923 for 2019.

RNZ reported that the foundation raised donations of more than $ 500,000 from April 2017 to March 2019.

During that period, the foundation allegedly spent more than $ 425,000 on campaign advertising expenses, political consultant fees, rent and establishment of a Wellington campaign headquarters, and administration of the party’s website.

This followed the resignation of party chairman Lester Gray last year after he refused to sign the party’s 2019 financial documents.

“This type of operation does not align with my moral values ​​and business practices and therefore I can no longer support the party,” Gray told Stuff at the time.