SFO investigating donations to National

Stuff reports:

A complaint about political donations has been referred to the Serious Fraud Office.
Police said the complaint was made in October 2018 in relation to the disclosure of political donations under the Electoral Act.
Details of the ongoing investigation have been disclosed in an effort to protect the integrity of those involved.

This is damaging and potentially significant.

It is never good for a party to have its name in the same sentence as the Serious Fraud Office. That in itself is damaging, regardless of what happens next.

It is unclear why the Police have referred it onto the SFO. It might be that the Police don’t have any skills in the area of electoral complaints (I have long been critical of their lack of prosecutions), or it might be that some information has come to light which suggests donation laws were not complied with.

So this is unwelcome bad news for National, especially at a time when the Government is under huge pressure on CGT. Labour will be very happy today.