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The Serious Fraud Office should be using its special powers to investigate the Winston Peters donation controversy, says its founding director, Chas Sturt.
Mr Sturt said the publicly available information about donations intended for Mr Peters' NZ First party met his "smell test" - making it suspicious enough for the SFO to use the statutory power that can force documents to be produced. Mr Sturt said this would allow SFO investigators to check the "paper trail".
It puts Mr Sturt at odds with current SFO director Grant Liddell, who is "assessing" a complaint Act leader Rodney Hide made three weeks ago before deciding whether to begin a formal investigation.
Mr Sturt said he had used the power even without a complaint being made in his eight-year stint as director from 1990.
He said the power, under Section 5 of the act, could be used if the director "suspected" serious or complex fraud may have taken place. Mr Sturt said this was a "subjective" test - what he called his "smell test".
"It had a lot to do with my 17 years as a detective in the Auckland CIB before practising as a lawyer, but rarely did my smell test fail me."
Mr Sturt said he had read newspaper articles and watched television coverage of Parliament and this, with any other information the SFO may have from individuals, "clearly satisfied the use of Section 5".
"They should get in there, knock a few doors down and have a look around, so to speak.
"However, this is a decision for the current director to make - not the former founding director."
Mr Sturt and Mr Peters have history, with Mr Peters becoming a critic of the SFO after it failed to prosecute the Winebox case while Mr Sturt was director.
The SFO, which is set to be disbanded, has other powers that can be used further on in investigations such as requiring people to answer questions.
Mr Liddell, a lawyer who rose to acting Deputy Solicitor-General before moving to the SFO last year, disagreed with Mr Sturt's interpretation, saying he was acting on "current advice" and taking the entire act into account.
Mr Liddell said he would make an announcement when the assessment process was over.
SFO investigators have spoken to Mr Hide and Sir Robert Jones, who made a $25,000 cheque out to the Spencer Trust believing it was going to NZ First. Expat billionaire Owen Glenn has provided a written statement to the SFO about a $100,000 donation he made that went towards Mr Peters' legal fees.
