[ad_1]
As New Zealand tried to fight electoral oblivion, a WR Peters put his money where Winston’s mouth was, reports Sam Sachdeva.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, or someone with the same initials and his base of operations, appears to have loaned the party $ 60,000 in the final days of the election campaign, new documents show.
The Election Commission’s loan record of over $ 30,000 shows that New Zealand First has declared a $ 60,000 loan from WR Peters in Whananaki (Winston Raymond Peters, as the veteran politician is formally known, has a retirement in the settlement of Northland).
The form provided by the party shows that Peters initially loaned him $ 50,000 on October 6, before providing another $ 10,000 the next day.
Under the terms of the agreement, New Zealand First must repay the loan by October 6, 2021, with an interest rate of 2 percent.
READ MORE:
* The true purpose of NZ First Foundation: to control
* The Detail: New Zealand first in the party giving craze
* First New Zealand foundation donations referred to Serious Fraud Office by police
The money is the first donation or loan of more than $ 30,000 declared by the party since the controversial New Zealand First Foundation contributed $ 44,923 in April 2019.
RICKY WILSON / Stuff
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, or someone with the same initials and his base of operations, appears to have loaned the party $ 60,000 in the final days of the election campaign, new documents show.
The Serious Fraud Office launched an investigation into the foundation after a Stuff The investigation into its operations was published last year, and in late September the agency charged two people with “obtaining by deception.”
Peters has accused the SFO of inappropriate behavior and threatened legal action against the agency, after an earlier, unsuccessful effort to prevent it from releasing news of the charges until a new government is formed after the elections.
New Zealand First is believed to have had trouble attracting donations as a result of the SFO investigation, possibly explaining Peters’ financial support for the party.
As the Newsroom has reported, Peters is facing some major bills as a result of the legal actions he is involved in.
The New Zealand First leader was ordered to personally pay $ 317,000 in costs to the Crown after the Supreme Court ruled against him on a claim related to the leakage of his retirement overpayment, a ruling he is currently appealing to his own. cost.
Peters has said that he will also provide some of the funding for his party’s judicial review of the OFS’s actions in relation to the First New Zealand Foundation.
The New Zealand First leader did not respond to a Newsroom text message, seeking comment on the purpose of his loan and when, or if he expected it to be repaid. Peters did not reply to Stuffrequest for comments.
The Election Commission’s record of donations of more than $ 30,000 shows that the Labor Party has raised nearly $ 400,000 in such sums so far in 2020.
The work nearly doubled its money raised from high-value donations in the final weeks of the campaign, with a $ 90,000 contribution from the New Zealand Dairy Workers Association on September 30, the largest it has raised this year.
Meanwhile, National has yet to declare a donation of more than $ 30,000 as of June 25, although, as parties have 10 business days to share details of such contribution with the Election Commission, they may not have been disclosed yet. last minute windfall profits.
