October 5, 2022 10:49am by David Farrar

Ross found not guilty

Former National MP Jami-Lee Ross has been found not guilty on fraud charges relating to donations made to the Labour and National parties.
On Wednesday, after hearing seven weeks of evidence, High Court Justice Ian Gault delivered his verdict in the trial.

Looks like his defence worked which was that everything he said about Simon Bridges was a lie motivated by anger over not getting to keep the Chief Whip role, and that in fact he didn’t know about the illegal donation.

Justice Gault found Zhang not guilty in relation to the National Party donation in 2017 but guilty of the donation in 2018.
Colin Zheng was found guilty in relation to the 2017 and 2018 donation.
Joe Zheng was found guilty in relation to the 2018 donation and guilty of obstructing a Serious Fraud Office investigation.
Ross was acquitted on all charges.
Zhang, the Zheng twins and the people with name suppression were all found not guilty over donations made to the Labour Party in 2017.

It is good that there will be consequences for those who try to subvert the laws around donation disclosure.