Fran digs up the quotes

Oh I do love journalists who do research. Fran O’Sullivan has found these quotes:

Where’s the audit trail? Precisely into which account went this cheque?”

“On whose behalf was the cheque to be held and what happened to this money? Is there any significance that … was in serious financial trouble?”

“Why is the Serious Fraud Office taking so long to find the answers to these questions?”

“I say the whole thing stinks.”

Fran tells us that we might expect these to be quotes from Bob Jones or Rodney Hide asking about the investigation of NZ First finances. But in fact they are quotes from the Rt Hon Winston Peters in 2002 demanding the SFO get to the bottom of National’s funding.

Fran notes:

This is the real reason why Peters should be judged guilty by his political peers of the “H” word – hypocrisy.

By failing to publish a clear audit trail showing just how Sir Robert’s $25,000 donation found its way from the Spencer Trust into NZ First’s coffers, or the way in which the amount was disbursed on NZ First’s behalf, Peters invites a tsunami of disbelief which might easily be turned back by a simple disclosure.

As to whether the SFO will investigate:

The SFO, which is now deciding whether it should formally investigate Hide’s complaint, will tread carefully.

But it must be consistent.

It launched a formal investigation into National Party donations in 2002 after a former official – assured of anonymity – revealed the party still had unanswered questions over discrepancies between the amount its fundraiser had expected from Fay Richwhite interests and what arrived in the party’s accounts in 1996. …

The SFO ultimately cleared the National Party of any wrongdoing.

If Peters, his party and his lawyers have nothing to hide they should demand answers to the questions.

Otherwise they lay themselves open to new claims that “the whole thing stinks”.

The SFO decision will be pivotal.