National cleared by investigation into party funds

11.00am

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has cleared the National Party of any wrong-doing over the donation of funds from merchant banker Fay Richwhite.

The SFO began investigating the party's books after donations made to it were deposited in a trust account before being transferred to the party's account.

While the office earlier would not say exactly what donations were being investigated, it was believed to centre around a $250,000 donation from Fay Richwhite which was put through a trust account in March 1996.

Today, SFO director David Bradshaw said in a statement the investigation was complete and "there is no evidence of any criminal wrong-doing".

The investigation had apparently been wider than just the $250,000 donation, but Mr Bradshaw did not elaborate.

The SFO had "access to all relevant accounts and to obtain all the necessary information to determine whether any criminal offending had occurred".

Mr Bradshaw said he was "satisfied that the donations in question have been dealt with properly within the finances of the National Party".

He declined to make any further comment about the investigation.

Former party president Geoff Thompson handled the Fay Richwhite donation and put it through a trust fund run by his law firm Macalister Mazengarb. He earlier said this was to protect the donor's anonymity.

He also said there was no evidence of any fraud. Two cheques were sent via the trust account and eventually one cheque turned up in the party's coffers.

He said no one had raised concerns at the time about how the donations had been handled by him or anyone else.

"I did get two cheques within a week of each other or something like that. They were put on deposit with the bank, earned interest and then a couple of months later were combined into one payment for the National Party. All that is very, very clear from the records," he said at the time.

Current National president Michelle Boag earlier said the party had supplied a complete paper trail on the transactions. Part of the money had been used to meet expenses, which were all receipted.

The balance of the donation was then paid as a single cheque to the party's account.

Ms Boag said in a statement today she welcomed the findings of the investigation which showed allegations of misuse of party funds "were without foundation."

It was important for the matter to have been dealt with before the election, she said.

"We were always confident of our processes for dealing with political donations and are pleased to have this endorsed by the SFO."

She said National had cooperated fully with the SFO investigators throughout the process and the party was "happy that this matter is now at an end."

- NZPA

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