Maori Party 'was offered $250,000 to support Labour'

Tariana Turia

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia has said the party was offered $250,000 in election funding if it agreed to support Labour.

Mrs Turia today said a wealthy individual was behind the offer, which was made through a third party.

She said that as far as she knew, the man who made the approach was not acting on behalf of the Labour Party. The Prime Minister's office said Labour had no knowledge of the offer, Radio New Zealand reported.

"He spoke to us twice, asking if in return for a sum of money, we would be prepared to give our vote to Labour," Mrs Turia said on National Radio.

"We desperately needed that money, but there was absolutely no way we could have considered that.

"It would have gone against basically everything we had discussed with our constituency -- where we had said we would go back to them to make the decision about who we went with."

Mrs Turia said the party never seriously considered the offer and the decision to turn it down was unanimous.

"We are a party that is led by our constituency and we stand by that," she said.

Mrs Turia said she understood the potential donor lived outside New Zealand, and had donated money to the Labour Party. "The person who spoke with us, met with him on a yacht or a boat."

Mrs Turia said she did not know if the person had also made offers to any other small parties.

Asked if she had taken any action over the offer, which seemed an attempt to influence the party, Mrs Turia said she hadn't. "What would be the point?"

The party had also turned down $10,000 from Sky City, which runs casinos among its businesses.

"We said no because we know the effect of gambling on our people," Mrs Turia said.

Most of the party's funding had come from its poor constituents, she said.

- NZPA, NZHERALD STAFF