Election 2020: Winston Peters’ joyous excursion to Waiheke, amid serious disclosures from the Bureau of Fraud

CAMPAIGN JOURNAL: Winston Peters moved to Waiheke Island to speak on 1080 on Thursday, but the fraud investigation that concerned his group continued through Auckland Harbor.

The news came before he boarded the Fullers ferry: Court documents showed that two people charged in the NZ First Foundation case had been charged with fraudulently depositing more than $ 740,000 into the foundation’s bank account, money used to pay the NZ First expenses.

It was another peek behind the curtain that the party has struggled to keep closed, and it came at an inopportune time.

The trip to Waiheke was apparently to talk about NZ First’s pest eradication policy: make more pest traps and find 1080 alternatives to eliminate the use of the poison.

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Peters did not appear to be concerned.

Leaving the ferry, after joking with the captain about taking the helm, it was a short minibus ride to the Te Korowai or Waiheke store, a predator-free trust on the island.

The doors were closed and the trapper scheduled to meet Peters was trapped in the bush, he told himself. So instead, there were questions to be answered on the dusty street.

Peters had three things to say. The 1080 poison was a “huge danger”.

“We have to put scientific money into it, to find an alternative. And the second thing we have to do is start turning a plague that is important for this country into a real opportunity. “

His political campaign was booming, he said: “Don’t worry, I can say from enough indications that things are going very, very well.”

And never mind the investigation of the Serious Fraud Office.

“Do you know the sub judice rule? You are raising an issue that leads to contempt of court, which I will not do. “

He interrupted a question about what the indictment documents published by the court showed and refused to acknowledge that his party had been named in connection with the foundation.

“I’m not going to let you give me your version of what the sub judice rule is.”

Sub judice prohibits the publication of material that may unfairly influence a court trial. It does not prevent a person from speaking about publicly available information, such as indictment documents.

“Why are you so eager to think that through some conspiratorial effort by the underground media, you are going to bring down my party by avoiding the sub judice rule?” Peters said.

In town and back to the jokes, Peters’ next stop was the main Oneroa shopping area for a short walk and lunch.

Locals and tourists were eager to speak with Peters, interactions that were clearly not organized.

Torrhi, a Scottish guy with a “hobo knee” and a metal cane, lured Peters to sit next to him outside a grocery store.

When asked how he was doing, Peters said, “Life is not easy, but we are going to make it.”

“I hope you do Winnie,” said Torrhi, who did not want to give a last name. He would vote Labor, he later confirmed, but said Peters would “fly.”

Maria Lloyd, an art gallery owner, gave Peters a key ring with a bronze pen attached.

“I like little boys,” he said.

Sitting at the Oneroa Beach Club Cafe, after ordering fish but not chips, Peters watched as A new reporter Katie Bradford filmed a piece on camera for the 6 pm newscast.

At Bradford’s mention of Peters’s unwillingness to speak about the OFS investigation, Peters, laughing, yelled from behind, “Because it’s sub judice.”