The mystery Te Pati Maori donor
Matt Nippert has looked at this previously and Philip Crump has done some more digging. TPM received $120,000 from the Aotearoa Te Kahu Partnership, which it failed to disclose. The purpose of electoral law is that we know the identify of major donors. So who is this very very generous donor?
The real mystery is AOTEAROA TE KAHU LIMITED PARTNERSHIP. Go to the register of limited partnerships and you find they act on behalf of AOTEAROA TE KAHU GP LIMITED.
Their shareholder is ATK NOMINEES LIMITED. And their shareholder is MORRISON KENT LIMITED. It is fair to assume Morrison Kent are not the actual shareholders but are acting for someone.
So this leaves the question who actually controls and funds Aotearoa Te Kahu and made the decision to donate $120,000 to the Maori Party?
Well the company has now closed down but the contact address was for a Greymouth Holdings which is registered to Mark Dunphy, the CEO of Greymouth Petroleum and former Fay Richwhite banker. The name may be a reference to the Kahu exploration well near Taranaki.
And former co-leader Tariana Turia praised the company in 2009.
Now I’m all for companies, including oil and gas companies, donating to political parties. But why was this hidden behind multiple entities, especially when the law requires the actual donor to be identified, if the donation is on behalf of someone else.
Questions that should be asked:
- Is the donation actually from Greymouth Petroleum?
- If so, did TPM know it was?
- Why was it hidden behind three other corporate entities?
- What was the rationale for the donation?