Labour on the take from Vela Brothers

Labour are at it again. 

This time it is money from the Vela Brothers to Labour Party coffers just a few days before the election.

$100,000.00 was given to both Labour and NZ First and the question of bribery for donations surfaces because Labour allowed Winston Peters, the racing Minister, to advantage the racing industry in the past by generous tax breaks for the Velas and taxpayer money for race stakes.

Yesterday, Peter Vela refused to say what prompted the donation to Labour.

"You've got to be entitled to donate to who you wish, don't you?" he said.

Asked if he had supported Labour before, he said, "Yes, of course."

"We are still a democracy and people still do have the basic democratic right to give how much they like, when they like and how they like to whom they like." More

Clearly the hope the Velas had was that their largesse to the filthy two would help Labour get re-elected and therefore the money train would keep going for the Velas for the next three years.

The donations, if disclosed before the election, would have been even more controversial than they are now because Labour had made mileage in pre-election propaganda about Nationals link to big business and their grandstanding via the Electoral Finance Act, that allowed Labour to get big donations from their donors but made it difficult to other party's.

It is money for favours and implicates Labour and NZ First, again.

National will remove the Electoral Finance Act from our statutes.

c Political Animal 2008