Winston's silence is telling

It seems more than a little hypocritical of Winston Peters to say what he calls the "National Party having secret donations from rich backers to trusts and other intermediaries to hide when the money comes from", when his party has probably been doing the same thing itself.

What is even worse is that Winnie backed and voted for the Electoral Finance Act. Something that he and its other backers said would "stop big money from buying an election".

Peters and his party have clearly been given money from ex pat billionaire Owen Glenn, there are emails and other evidence to support this. Peters still denies that he or his party have benefited from any large donation from Glenn, "into his or his party's bank account", going to the extent of asking Audrey Young, from the NZ Herald, the journo who broke the scandal, to "check his accounts".

Of course Winston or his party may not have got money directly into any of their respective accounts but money from Glenn may have been paid into a trust account, his PR company account or any other trust that Peters or his party or members operate.

Every other party in Parliament do similar things but it is usually no secret when asked by media.

In the light of evidence that Owen Glenn did give money to Peters, at least through a related party, Peters needs to front up with the truth rather than hiding his sanctimonious hypocritical manoeuvres under spin and bluster.

Yet can bet that Peters would want the full picture from anyone else in his position.

It was his trademark when he was in opposition.

Related Political Animal Reading

Labour gets tangled in Peter's lies
Leaked Glenn Email
Winston got secret donations from Owen Glenn
Labour Party Election funding murky at best
Electoral Finance Bill: The purpose is clear
The Owen Glenn Story: Singing the same tune but hitting a bum note

c Political Animal 2008