Jami-Lee Ross one of 4 charged by SFO

Former National MP Jami-Lee Ross is one of the four men charged by the Serious Fraud Office in the National Party donations case - alongside a Chinese community leader who reportedly gave $100,000 to the party, and two others.

Name suppression for Ross and his co-accused Zhang Yikun, Zheng Shijia, and Zheng Hengjia was lifted by the Auckland District Court on Wednesday afternoon after the latter trio applied to end the secrecy. Ross' lawyers did not object.

Ross was the originator of a complaint in 2018 to the police over a $100,000 donation he had publicly claimed showed his former party leader Simon Bridges was corrupt. The police referred the matter to the SFO but in January it was Ross, not Bridges or other National figures, who was among those charged.

He is now an independent MP in Botany and is fighting this year's general election against National candidate Chris Luxon, the former Air New Zealand chief executive.

Ross released a four-page public statement to the media saying that while he was "shocked" he was being targeted by the SFO, he had no intention of hiding it.

"I always wanted to make it very clear that as the whistle blower on this deception, it was outrageous that I was then charged and that others were seeking to implicate me, making me their expendable scape goat.

"However, I couldn't speak up, as I needed to respect the right of those three people to seek name suppression. Further, even though I made no application for name suppression, the same protection was extended to me by the court despite me not wanting that."

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/02/19/1041741/jami-lee-ross-one-of-4-charged-by-sfo

SFO confirms investigation into NZ First Foundation

The Serious Fraud Office has confirmed it will investigate donations made to the New Zealand First Foundation and whether they were compliant with electoral law.

The official confirmation comes just over a week after the Electoral Commission referred the foundation to the police, who in turn passed it to the SFO.

Last November, Stuff reported an investigation into the New Zealand First Foundation had uncovered financial records showing donations that had been used to fund an array of campaign and political expenses, but with the donors' identities not disclosed.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has repeatedly insisted the foundation's structure is entirely lawful, while distancing himself from its creation and operation.

However, in its statement about the police referral, the commission said it had "formed the view that the New Zealand First Foundation has received donations which should have been treated as party donations for the New Zealand First Party".

"In the commission's view, the donations were not properly transmitted to the party and not disclosed as required by the Electoral Act 1993."

In a one-line media statement, the SFO said: “The Serious Fraud Office has today commenced an investigation in relation to the New Zealand First Foundation.”

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/02/18/1041602/sfo-confirms-investigation-into-nz-first-foundation