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Winston Peters' lawyer brother Wayne Peters is refusing to give any details of the secretive Spencer Trust but he said last night he would respond privately to a letter from Sir Robert Jones - a donor to the trust - if Sir Robert writes to him about it.
Sir Robert has raised questions publicly but received no assurance the $25,000 cheque he gave for the use of New Zealand First at the 2005 election via the trust was spent as intended.
Sir Robert has said that Roger McClay, a former New Zealand First adviser, asked for his cheque to be made out to the Spencer Trust.
Despite Winston Peters referring all questions about the trust to his brother, Wayne Peters said he was not obliged to give any details "to satisfy other people's curiosity."
"If Bob Jones has any issues he can write to me directly," he said.
Trusts are sometimes defended on the basis that it separates the donor from the politician but in this case, Sir Robert said that Winston Peters solicited a donation - a claim Mr Peters denies.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said last night she was looking into the donations issue but did not expect to meet Winston Peters, her Foreign Minister, before Tuesday to discuss it.
"Obviously we are looking through what has been said, what has been alleged and I am taking advice on that."
The Electoral Commission is expected to discuss the issue at its regular meeting tomorrow during the general business section of the agenda, a spokesman said, though it is out of time to refer any non-disclosure issues to the police.
There has been no disclosure of a donation from the Spencer Trust - a requirement for donations of $10,000 or more.
Even if the trust had broken the global figure into smaller amounts, if it is from the one source it needed to be declared under the old law.
Otago University associate law professor Andrew Geddis said that under the law in 2005 the money could have been lawfully conveyed to party coffers if the main trust had distributed amounts under $10,000 to separate legal entities - such as other trusts or companies or individuals - which had then paid it to the party.
Such actions now under the Electoral Finance Act are illegal.
Sir Robert told the Herald on Sunday he would write to Wayne Peters this week.
Winston Peters has protested his ignorance of the matter saying only he believed his brother was a trustee, that the party had done nothing unlawful and that it was all a matter for his brother.
Wayne Peters would not give the names of the other trustees. He would not comment on a Herald on Sunday report quoting former New Zealand First adviser Rex Widerstrom as saying the trust was set up as a legal fund for Winston Peters' Winebox legal fees and was named after the middle name of Winston Peters' namesake, Sir Winston Churchill.
But Wayne Peters categorically denied any involvement at that time.
The first deals he had with the New Zealand First party were during the 1996 coalition negotiations with National.
