National Party donations case: SFO alleges 'trick or stratagem' over two $100k contributions

Charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office against four people allege the use of a "fraudulent device, trick, or stratagem" to split up two $100,000 donations to the National Party.

Four men, whose names are suppressed, will appear in the Auckland District Court next week after being charged last month over allegations relating to donations paid into a National Party electorate bank account.

Court documents outlining some of the particulars of the charges were released to the media this week by Judge Eddie Paul.

The court papers allege two donations of $100,000 in 2017 and $100,050 in 2018 were made "in circumstances where the identity of the donor was not disclosed in the National Party's Annual Return of Party Donations".

"The defendants adopted a fraudulent device, trick, or stratagem whereby the 2018 donation was split into sums of money less than $15,000, and transferred into the bank accounts of eight people, before being paid to, and retained by, the National Party," the documents read.

The same allegation is made by the SFO for the 2017 donation.

The fourth man is charged alongside the other three over the 2018 donation, while also being accused of supplying false information to the SFO.

The maximum sentence of the donation charges is seven years' imprisonment.

After the SFO charges were laid, a spokesperson for National Leader Simon Bridges said no one in the National Party had been charged.

National Party leader Simon Bridges, who has not been charged, has denied any wrongdoing over how the party has handled donations. Photo / Alex Burton