KEY POINTS:
A New Zealand First auditor had concerns in May about whether an elaborately structured donation to the party should be declared.
An Electoral Commission email sent to auditor Nick Kosoof indicates the donation was of one large sum but had been channelled through eight separate companies in amounts under $10,000. Donations of $10,000 and over must be declared. All the companies had the same shareholders and directors.
The email points to the $80,000 donation being one the Vela brothers made to NZ First.
It also suggests the Vela Brothers funded the bulk of NZ First's $158,000 debt to taxpayers after the widespread unlawful spending by parties for the last election and that NZ First elected to give to charities rather than to the Parliamentary Service.
Dividing large donations into several smaller amounts is not unlawful. Eight donations to the Spencer Trust last year from eight companies with the same owners would not have had to be declared to the Electoral Commission.
But the $80,000 donation from the Spencer Trust to the party should have been declared and Act leader Rodney Hide last Thursday laid a complaint with the police about the party's failure on that count.
The Electoral Commission has said it will discuss the $80,000 donation disclosure issue today at its weekly meeting.
It could decide not to refer the matter to police because it is already before them; it could make its own referral; or it could make further inquiries before acting.
The NZ First donations saga has paralysed the party since the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced it would investigate.
On a second front, the $100,000 donation to NZ First leader Winston Peters' legal fees from Monaco-based businessman Owen Glenn will be under further scrutiny at Parliament tomorrow when Mr Glenn is due to tell the privileges committee in person that Mr Peters asked for it.
The Electoral Commission email was released to the Herald under the Official Information Act.
It was a written response from the commission's statutory relationship manager, Deidre Brookes, on May 13 to Mr Kosoof who telephoned the commission earlier in the day.
"You mentioned a cheque deposited for one sum made up of donations from eight companies each for under $10,000 and where there is some relationship between the companies via their directors and shareholders."
She said the commission was not able to provide definitive answers to queries in the absence of supporting information.
"Depending on the surrounding circumstances, the donation may amount to one donation under the Electoral Act provisions or eight separate donations, and the reporting requirements apply accordingly."
Mr Kosoof last night confirmed he did have concerns in May. He said he'd not discussed the matter with Mr Peters back then.
But it is not known if others discussed the issue with Mr Peters. President George Groombridge told the Herald in early May that the party would be late filing its donation declaration (due on April 30) because Mr Peters was overseas and would be "tying up the final loose ends" when he returned on May 16 - the day the return was filed.
Mr Kosoof said he spent several hours with SFO investigators late last week.
The SFO is looking into whether donations from Sir Robert Jones and the Vela brothers to the previously secret Spencer Trust made it to the NZ First Party.
Evidence released last week from the trust suggests the donations did reach their mark, but for three consecutive years were not declared.
Peter Williams, QC, the lawyer for Mr Peters, revealed last week that the Velas had given the party $80,000 through the Spencer Trust, a secret entity that has channelled donations to it since 2005.
Spencer Trust trustee Grant Currie confirmed that $80,000 was paid last year to NZ First that wasn't declared. He's also revealed that the trust directly paid NZ First invoices in 2006 to the value of $87,648 that should have been declared as a donation.
