The Electoral Commission has dropped an investigation into a complaint into Billy Te Kahika's NZ Public Party and its collection and use of donations.
The Commission said because the Public Party was not a registered party, it's not subject to the rules under the Electoral Act to declare donations larger than $30,000.
The complaint was referred to the Commission on Wednesday by the Serious Fraud Office.
Te Kahika's party formed an alliance with former National MP Jami-Lee Ross' Advance New Zealand Party in June.
In August, Advance NZ declared a $65,633 in donations from the NZ Public Party.
But because the NZ Public Party was not a registered party, it was not subject to donation reporting obligations so the Commission could not find any evidence of breaches under the Electoral Act, a spokeswoman said.
"The Electoral Act does not regulate how party or candidate funds are used, other than for election advertising. Political parties have their own rules or constitutions and generally these are internal matters," the spokeswoman said.
Te Kahika, who is now also co-leader of Advance NZ, said his party had "been cleared".
"We proudly stand for transparency and accountability.
"I appreciate the Electoral Commission acting swiftly to clear our party of any wrongdoing.
"Sadly a few individuals, who we once trusted, have decided to launch a smear campaign in an attempt to derail the momentum that we have.
"This week we met their smear tactics by publishing our financial records openly and publicly."
Te Kahika this week circulated pieces of financial information and a letter threatening an ex-party member with defamation after they allegedly claimed the party's director was a "CIA agent".
The documents included the amounts in donations the party received at events across the country – the largest amount was $18,000 from an event at Auckland's Logan Campbell Centre.
Te Kahika said he released the documents in the "interests of openness and transparency".
"We thank our loyal party members, and our fast-growing following on social media, for their faith in our party's ethics and openness.
"We reserve the right to seek damages against those making frivolous complaints to public entities as they try to further their smear campaign."
