Clark yet to weigh up Peters' evidence

Winston Peters' lawyer Brian Henry's appearance before the privileges committee is interrupted by a corrupted video link. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Prime Minister Helen Clark is yet to assess whether today's evidence to the privileges committee was devastating or not before deciding whether to sack Winston Peters.

Act leader Rodney Hide is calling for Mr Peters to be sacked after new contradictory evidence from Mr Peters' lawyer.

Appearing before Parliament's privileges committee via video-link, Mr Henry conceded that the "client" Owen Glenn spoke to was Winston Peters.

He has previously said it was not Mr Peters.

The committee is investigating whether Mr Peters broke Parliament's rules by failing to declare a $100,000 donation to New Zealand First by billionaire Mr Glenn.

Mr Peters has argued he did not have to declare it as Mr Henry solicited the money - for the costs of an electoral petition - and the payment was made directly to the lawyer.

He has also denied knowledge of the December 2005 donation until Mr Henry informed him of it in July this year.

However, Mr Glenn has said Mr Peters personally asked for the donation. Last week, he produced phone records showing he talked to Mr Peters on December 14, 2005, minutes before Mr Henry sent an email to him with his bank details.

The email, produced by Mr Glenn, shows Mr Henry referred to the phone conversation with "my client" at the precise time of the phone call.

Mr Henry has previously denied the "client" was Mr Peters but today he said the pair's recollection of events was poor and their earlier story did not now seem correct.

He acknowledged that Mr Peters must be the client referred to but said that did not conclusively show Mr Peters' solicited a donation towards his legal fees.

Mr Henry said he instead believed he had emailed Mr Glenn because his memory had been jogged after speaking to Mr Peters.

Mr Hide - who laid the complaint with the committee - said it was stretching credibility to believe Mr Henry's version of evidence.

He said Prime Minister Helen Clark should sack Mr Peters from his portfolios and get on with fighting the election.

A phone record supplied by Mr Peters was also released today and backs up Mr Glenn's timeline of events, showing Mr Peters called Mr Henry him one minute after he finished talking to Mr Glenn.

Mr Henry's email was sent one minute after his phone call with Mr Peters ended.

Henry says he solicited donation