Focus: Independent MP Jami-Lee Ross is one of four men charged by the SFO over allegations involving two donations to the National Party.
COMMENT:
Take a bow, Jami-Lee Ross - whose attempt to take down National Party leader Simon Bridges instead resulted in the most spectacular own-goal in our political history.
Ross was revealed as one of four men charged by the Serious Fraud Office for alleged involvement in two donations to theNational Party which had been broken up into smaller amounts to avoid disclosure.
Rarely has anybody been both hero and zero at the same time.
In this saga, Ross himself was the heroic whistleblower – it was he who exposed an alleged $100,000 donations rort within the National Party. That was an attempt to discredit Bridges.
Instead, Ross is now in court charged with that alleged rort himself - although he has been quick to claim he is innocent and a "scapegoat" for the National Party.
Illustration / Rod Emmerson
His initial statement was titled "Spoke Up, now Set Up."
Ross claimed he was the whistleblower, so how could he have done the wrong. He claimed he had nothing to gain from the donation. "I will not be the National Party's fall-guy."
The three donors charged – Yikun Zhang, and Colin and Joe Zheng - also protested their innocence yesterday, saying they had simply done what they were told and were now being dragged into a political infight.
The SFO has alleged that two donations of about $100,000 were split into smaller amounts and paid into eight people's bank accounts before being sent on again to the National Party coffers.
But Ross is not the only one who will be nervous.
In the court of public opinion, the entire story is a rank one for the National Party - regardless of whether they are in the dock. However it is spun, and whoever is involved, it is not a good look for the party. It fuels suspicion.
Labour's Grant Robertson was quick to try to attack on the matter in Parliament once name suppression lifted yesterday but was reined in by the Speaker.
There will be some solace for National from the knowledge the SFO is now also investigating New Zealand First's donations.
But National has a lot more to lose and this will now plague it in an election year, including potentially damaging evidence from those charged.
Ross himself has said he will produce evidence as to whodunit – although it is likely National would have been more worried about the SFO's investigation than Ross would.
The donors claimed they had also given donations to other political parties and campaigns which will have other political figures combing through their books – if the SFO is not already doing so.
The turn of events will have killed off the already non-existent chance Ross had of winning the Botany seat again. If convicted, he would be disqualified from being an MP anyway.
The charges he faces carry a maximum jail term of seven years.
The saga is worse for Jami-Lee Ross but it is still grim reading for National. It adds to the wider sense of suspicion around donations to political parties.
That said, after the trail of destruction Ross left as he blazed his way through the end of 2018 there will be many within that party enjoying that precious feeling of schadenfreude.
It was yet another twist in one of the most dramatic episodes New Zealand's Parliament has witnessed, which began in October 2018 when Ross, full of rage, mounted a scathing attack on Bridges' integrity.
He claimed Bridges had "directed" that a donation be split into smaller parts to avoid disclosure. Bridges denied it and Ross delivered an audio recording of a phone call with Bridges that proved nothing at all other than that the donation was talked about.
It was Ross too who delivered papers to the police station, the media trailing him through Wellington's streets as he went, the white knight of justice.
