Cam Slater: NZ First Foundation Wins against SFO

Yesterday morning Judge Pheroze Jagose delivered his judgment in the SFO’s very public prosecution of two people connected to the NZ First Foundation. Media were all over this case, hungry to smear NZ First even more than they already do. But the judge was having none of the prosecution’s heroic interpretations of the law and found the pair not guilty on all charges.

Bryce Edwards: If the NZ First Foundation accused are not guilty, then who is?

It’s shocking that the accused in the NZ First Foundation trial were declared “not guilty” in the High Court today. But it’s not actually surprising.

There was always a strong chance that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was not going to get a conviction over the machinations used to keep large donations to the New Zealand First party secret. The revelation of this scandal in 2020, and the trial over the last month, may well have proven that the Electoral Act was breached, but it was far from certain that the accused were guilty of what the authorities were charging them with.