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Parliament's privileges committee has released a second letter from Owen Glenn in which the billionaire says there is no doubt Winston Peters approached him for a donation.
The letter said: "There is absolutely no doubt that the request came to me from Mr Peters. I would not have made the donation on any other basis through any intermediary. I did not do so."
Mr Peters and his lawyer Peter Williams QC appeared before the committee this morning.
Mr Peters did not speak and Mr Williams was prevented from making a full statement, but in a truncated presentation he said the committee's decision should not be made along party lines.
Implicit in Mr Glenn's letter released today was a claim that Mr Peters telephoned him on December 14, 2005 and that Brian Henry followed up the call with an email later that day.
In his letter, Mr Glenn said that he gave the authority for the payment instructions to be made on December 20, 2005 to Mr Peters' lawyer Brian Henry's account.
"Mr Henry supplied the ASB Bank account details in an email from him addressed to me on Wednesday 14 December 2005," he wrote.
"That email from Mr Henry refers to an earlier telephone conversation between me and person Mr Henry refers to as 'my client' that same day."
Mr Henry has given testimony to the privileges committee that he approached Mr Glenn to ask for a donation after being an advised to do so by a client of his, but he has emphatically stated that that client was not Mr Peters.
It was also revealed today that Mr Glenn would appear in person at the committee on Tuesday.
Mr Williams' statement
The committee prevented Mr Williams making a full statement at the hearing today saying Parliament's rules only allowed legal counsel to talk about issues of process.
Following tense exchanges, Mr Williams made a truncated presentation to the committee in which he said its decision on New Zealand First's donations should not be made on party lines.
Mr Peters stood down as Foreign Minister last week for the duration of a separate inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office.
In Mr Williams' statement, released after today's hearing, he continued to dispute Mr Glenn's version of events.
Mr Williams wrote it was notable there was no correspondence about the payment, indicating "Mr Glenn's memory is faulty and his dealings were with Mr Henry to whom he dispatched the money".
He said "without notes or diary entries, people of integrity can make honest mistakes in regard to recollections of conversations some years ago".
Mr Williams' statement said that Mr Henry in fact made communication with Mr Glenn on two occasions and that Mr Henry recalled parts of their conversations.
"Mr Henry recalls that during a conversation with Mr Glenn, Mr Glenn expressed concern about comments in the media by Mr Downer, [former] Australian Foreign Minister."
This is thought to refer to comments Mr Downer made at a meeting in Pusan, Korea, in November 2005 about the then new arrangements of Government which saw Mr Peters made a minister outside the cabinet and outside the Government.
Mr Williams also said Mr Henry recalled Mr Glenn asking for an assurance that the agreement between Mr Peters and Prime Minister Helen Clark would run full term.
"Mr Henry pointed out to Mr Glenn that the previous coalition agreement that Mr Peters had with the National Party was breached after the National Party changed its leader to Jenny Shipley, who proceeded to breach this agreement.
"Mr Henry said he assured Mr Glenn that Winston Peters' coalition agreement with Helen Clark would run the full term provided Helen Clark acted in accordance with the arrangement.
"Mr Henry said that is was after he gave this assurance to Mr Glenn that Mr Glenn agreed to pay the $100,000 towards the cost of the Tauranga electoral petition."
Mr Williams also enclosed a Herald on Sunday article giving examples of "bizarre statements attributed to Mr Glenn".
Karaka
In an earlier letter to the committee, made public last week, Mr Glenn said Mr Peters sought the $100,000 donation from him in 2005 and then thanked him for it at the Karaka yearling sales in early 2006.
In his response to the committee, Mr Peters said it was his lawyer Brian Henry who approached Mr Glenn and that he and Mr Glenn met at the 2006 Karaka sales. But in his letter released this morning, Mr Glenn said he was not at the 2007 Karaka sales.
"I was at the sales in early 2006. I believe that the statement I made to you in my letter of 19 August is factually accurate."
While the privileges committee's job is decide only on whether Mr Peters should have declared the $100,000 donation to legal fees in the register of MPs' pecuniary interests, central to that decision is when Mr Peters knew about it.
Mr Peters had been due to give evidence this morning but has decided to wait until after Mr Glenn has appeared - after question time next Tuesday.
The committee is investigating whether Mr Peters broke Parliament's rules by failing to declare a $100,000 donation from Mr Glenn towards his legal costs.
Parliament's rules only allow legal counsel to talk about issues of process, but Mr Williams today repeatedly argued that contributions to MPs' legal petitions had never been considered a pecuniary matter.
He was repeatedly warned by committee chair Simon Power, but ignored those warnings and continued to outline Mr Peters' argument.
After 25 minutes Mr Williams concluded his argument and the committee went into closed session.
Mr Peters has said he had no knowledge of the donation until Mr Henry advised him of it on July 18 this year.
Prime Minister Helen Clark has said she asked Mr Peters about the donation following a meeting with Mr Glenn on February 21 this year.
Mr Peters told her neither he nor NZ First had received any donation from Mr Glenn, apparently not checking with Mr Henry, despite knowing Mr Henry collected money on his behalf.
NZ First could also now face a police inquiry after claims by a trustee of the Spencer Trust that it donated over $10,000 to NZ First in 2007 that was never declared.
- additional reporting: NZPA
