Wayne Peters gets drawn into brother Winston's funds row

by Peter de Graaf and NZPA
Whangarei lawyer Wayne Peters has been drawn into the controversy around donations to New Zealand First and its leader, his brother Winston Peters.
A report in Wellington's Dominion Post newspaper yesterday stated property investor Bob Jones had donated $25,000 to New Zealand First just ahead of the 2005 election but the party had failed to declare the donation.
Mr Jones said the money - at the request of NZ First - was paid into the Spencer Trust, which is administered by Wayne Peters.
The party is thought to use the trust to pay some of its bills.
Mr Jones said he had written to NZ First seeking an assurance about what had happened to the 2005 donation and another $150,000 he donated to the party in 1993.
He said the $25,000 donation was solicited from him by Winston Peters himself and made out to the Spencer Trust.
Wayne Peters told the Northern Advocate yesterday it was a long-standing, fundamental principle that lawyers did not discuss their clients' affairs - "and I don't propose to break that now", he said.
However, he said he had "no issue" with Mr Jones saying he had made a donation to the Spencer Trust, in the expectation the money would be used for the benefit of NZ First.
Questions about the $25,000 from Mr Jones are the latest in the controversy swirling around NZ First and how it handles donations.
Winston Peters assured Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday his party had not broken fundraising laws.
He is expected to front up to questions at a press conference today, in a bid to prevent the issue overshadowing tomorrow's meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Winston Peters - who is also facing questions about a $100,000 donation from expatriate billionaire Owen Glenn - was yesterday at a foreign ministers' meeting in Singapore.
Under electoral law, parties must declare any donations from a single source of more than $10,000 in a calendar year.