[Politics] Former MP acquitted of charges over political donations

[FazzNoth]

Former Botany MP Jami-Lee Ross has been found not guilty of charges laid in relation to two large donations made to the National Party.

Justice Ian Gault delivered his verdict in the case at the Auckland High Court on Wednesday morning.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had charged Ross over a $100,000 donation made to National in June 2017 and one of $100,050 in June 2018.

The former politician was charged alongside businessmen Yikun Zhang, Shijia (Colin) Zheng, and Hengjia (Joe) Zheng.

The Crown alleged the four men were involved in a plan to split two large donations made to National into smaller amounts to avoid having to disclose the identity of the true donor or donors to the Electoral Commission, as legally required.

Ross, Zhang, and Colin Zheng each faced two charges of obtaining by deception.

 

Joe Zheng faced one charge of obtaining by deception and one charge of providing false or misleading information.

Zhang and the Zheng brothers also faced charges, along with two men and a woman whose names are suppressed, over a donation made to the Labour Party at a fundraising art auction in 2017.

Following a seven-week trial that began on July 25, Gault today found the three people charged in relation to a donation to Labour not guilty of all charges.

He acquitted Ross of the two charges of obtaining by deception.

News media are reporting Gault found Zhang not guilty over the donation made to National in 2017, but guilty in relation to the one made in 2018.

Colin Zheng was found guilty in relation to the donations made in 2017 and 2018.

His brother Joe Zheng was found guilty over the donation made to National in 2018 and of lying to the SFO.

Zhang and the Zhengs will reappear in court to be sentenced in November.

https://www.times.co.nz/news/former-mp-acquitted-of-charges-over-political-donations/