Labour and National donations trial: Andrew Little called to witness stand

Cabinet minister Andrew Little testifies in the High Court at Auckland during the judge-alone trial of seven people accused of improper donations to National and Labour. Photo / Alex Burton

Former Labour leader Andrew Little attended a 2017 event in which artwork was auctioned off, resulting years later in a Serious Fraud Office investigation, but he had no idea at the time that the event included an auction, he told a judge today.

The MP and Cabinet minister was called to testify in the High Court at Auckland at the trial of businessman and New Zealand Order of Merit member Yikun Zhang, former National MP Jami-Lee Ross and five others with business and political ties.

Little, the party's top figure at the time of the April 2017 fundraiser, was shown a photo from the event where he stood between two men who are now defendants - Zhang and another man with name suppression.

"I knew of him because I knew his face and I met him, but I couldn't give you his name," Little said of Zhang.

All seven defendants - including businessmen brothers Shijia (Colin) Zheng and Hengjia (Joe) Zheng, as well as three people who have name suppression - are accused of helping to illegally mask large donations from Zhang to either National or Labour in the year prior to his Order of Merit honour, which was bestowed in 2018 for services to New Zealand-China relations and the Chinese community.

Four of the seven accused in the political donations trial are Yikun Zhang (left), Shijia (Colin) Zheng, Hengjia (Joe) Zheng and Jami-Lee Ross. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Each defendant pleaded not guilty last week as the lengthy non-jury trial before Justice Ian Gault began.

The Serious Fraud Office prosecution focuses on two donations to National - $100,000 in 2017 and $100,050 in 2018 - and an allegedly "sham" auction for Labour during the 2017 event Little attended in which Zhang is said to have bought five paintings for $60,000.

Donations totalling more than $15,000 over the course of a year must be declared to the Electoral Commission, according to the Electoral Act. Prosecutors allege Zhang split the donations into lesser amounts and recruited people to make the donations in their own names so he could skirt the requirement.

The scheme was intended to deceive the Electoral Commission, the public and the secretaries of both parties, the Serious Fraud Office alleges.

Little said he attended the event to lend support to Chao Shan General Association, which was bidding to host an international convention in New Zealand for similar organisations composed of Chinese expatriates. Zhang founded the New Zealand group.

Yikun Zhang, pictured with former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy when awarded his MNZM for services to New Zealand-China relations and the Chinese community. Photo / Supplied

"There were some performances, some speeches - I spoke - the inevitable photography and selfies," Little said of the event, in which he signed a banner in support of the group's convention bid.

"I wasn't aware at that moment I was attending there intended to be any fundraising for the Labour Party."

Little emphasised that he wouldn't have been directly involved in any fundraiser. He said he always advised Labour MPs that they shouldn't be involved in the mechanics of fundraising - leaving it for party officials such as branch chairs and campaign managers to solicit and collect money.

"As leader of the party and an MP, the role you play is to meet and greet and make contacts, but not to collect money," he said. His advice to his caucus, he said, was always that "MPs should stay removed from collection of funds and fundraising, even though they may participate in fundraising events".

"I think it was generally understood. It was a conversation that as a caucus and as a party we would have periodically."

Little was also shown a document recording the party's total donations for the year ending December 31, 2017. He didn't see the document, which mentioned the auction, until he was shown it by the Serious Fraud Office, he said.

The politician, whose testimony lasted just under 30 minutes, first took office as a list MP in 2011 and currently serves as Minister of Health and Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. He served as Opposition leader for three years, stepping aside in August 2017 - five months after the auction in question - so that Jacinda Ardern could run in the then-upcoming general election.

Following Little to the witness stand today was Andrew Campbell, who has served as Ardern's chief press secretary since 2018, after she took on the Prime Minister role.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with Yikun Zhang. Photo / Supplied

He recalled receiving media requests in February 2020, after Zhang, the Zheng brothers and Ross were charged over the national donations. Reporters wanted to know if any of the defendants had also made donations to Labour, and because he hadn't yet been in his current job in 2017 Campbell said he needed to ask around before replying to the media.

Most of the questions posed to him on the witness stand regarded his conversations with a defendant who has name suppression.

"The purpose of my questions was to ascertain the basic information - had these people made donations to the Labour Party?" Campbell recalled of his first conversation with the man.

He eventually learned that there had been a donation made, "but it took me more time [after that first conversation] to work out the exact nature of that donation", he explained.

PM Jacinda Ardern and her chief press secretary, Andrew Campbell, arrive at a press conference in 2020. Campbell testified today for a trial in the High Court at Auckland. Photo / Mark Mitchell

In a series of text messages following the initial conversation, the man who would later be charged at one point told Campbell that five people purchased the artwork but they had "nothing to do with" Zhang.

They didn't discuss the matter further after the text exchange, Campbell said.

"My recollection is that we issued a statement after that," he said.

Silent auctions are common at political fundraisers, Campbell acknowledged under cross-examination. Prosecutors later asked him to describe his understanding of a silent auction. They are conducted in the open, so that people can make bids throughout the event, he replied.

"I guess in theory you could do it a different way, but...that is how I've always seen them," he said.