Political donations trial, week 3: National’s rift laid bare in court

A stoush between former National MPs Jami-Lee Ross and Simon Bridges has been rehashed in court this week as both were called to give evidence in a political donations trial.

Ross and three businessmen – Yikun Zhang, Shijia (Colin) Zheng and Hengjia (Joe) Zheng – have been charged by the Serious Fraud Office over donations made to the National Party.

The three are also facing charges – alongside two men and a woman, who all have interim name suppression – over donations made to the Labour Party. All six are on trial at the High Court in Auckland.

The Crown’s case is that sham donors were used and put forward by men on the inside of both parties to disguise the true donor: Zhang.

READ MORE:
* Simon Bridges says Jami-Lee Ross went ‘politically kamikaze’ after reshuffle
* Simon Bridges ‘had to beg’ Jami-Lee Ross not to leave National after demotion
* Political donations trial, week 2: MPs quizzed on involvement in ‘sham’ auction

Here’s what happened this week and what’s next.

Why it matters

• The trial this week has given insight into the turbulence within the National Party leading up to Ross’ infamous 2018 press conference, where he accused Bridges of being corrupt.
• During that conference, he said Bridges had filed unlawful electoral returns in relation to a $100,000 donation from Zhang. He accused Bridges of asking him to mask the identity of the donor by splitting the donation up into smaller amounts.
• Text messages read to the jury this week showed Ross felt betrayed by Bridges over a demotion in the lead-up to the conference. He said Bridges promised him positions, like leader of the house and chief whip, but they were “taken away”.
• The messages, as well as recordings played to the court, also showed Bridges’ frustration with Ross. He said there was evidence Ross had behaved inappropriately with multiple women and admonished him for recording him without consent.
• Bridges and Ross also discussed a $100,000 donation from Zhang at length, with Ross saying Bridges had not declared it properly and Bridges saying he had done nothing illegal.

Key players

• Jami-Lee Ross was the youngest member of Parliament when he was sworn in in 2011. He resigned from the National Party following the 2018 press conference and stood again for Parliament as an independent, but lost his seat. In 2020, he launched a new party, Advance New Zealand, which later merged with the New Zealand Public Party, run by conspiracy theorist Billy Te Kahika. They received less than 1% of the vote.
• Simon Bridges became the leader of the National Party in February 2018 after taking over from Bill English. He retired from politics in May 2020. Bridges is now the chief executive of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and hosts a podcast, Generally Famous, for Stuff.

What’s been said

• “So I got f….. over pretty big time by a guy that I thought was a mate and I helped a lot,” Ross texted his then-electoral assistant, Katja Kershaw, after a conversation with Bridges. “Was promised leader of the house – taken away. Was promised to keep Chief whip – taken away. Was promised [minister of] housing – taken away. I was close to walking today. He had to beg me not to.”
• Ross told a detective he recorded himself and Bridges discussing the $100,000 donation because “if shit hit the fan it would have all landed on me … I recorded it because I could smell political danger”.
• Bridges told Ross he needed to take an “olive branch” after secretly recording their conversation: “If you don’t take that … I will take you off the front bench, I will strip your portfolios.”

What’s next

• The trial, before Justice Ian Gault, is expected to last several more weeks.