Premier Chris Minns has refused to say whether he or members of his staff have been interviewed by the NSW Electoral Commission over allegations he was involved in evading donations laws a decade ago following a political fundraiser at a Hurstville restaurant.
The Sydney Morning Herald revealed on Thursday the Electoral Commission had reopened an investigation into a decade-old donations scandal that involved using straw donors to hide the “true identity” of prohibited donors to NSW Labor. Minns has denied any wrongdoing.
Multiple sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential probe told the Herald the commission has been conducting interviews about the donations, made at a Labor Party fundraiser for Minns at the Sunny Harbour Seafood Restaurant in Hurstville in 2014.
Minns on Thursday declined to say whether he or his staff had been interviewed by the commission, saying: “I can’t comment about ongoing investigations, whether they’ve taken place or not.”
Asked by the leader of the opposition Kellie Sloane in question time, Minns said: “The member will have to ask the Electoral Commission, as there are limits to what I will and can say on that question.”
Minns has categorically denied any involvement in the donations scheme, which was first outlined in the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s 2019 probe into the $100,000 illegally donated to the NSW Labor Party by property developer Huang Xiangmo.
The existence of an investigation does not suggest any wrongdoing, or that Minns is the focus of the commission’s questioning.
The revelation the Electoral Commission is investigating follows claims made last year by a former Labor official, David Latham, that Minns asked him during a phone call in 2014 how to bank thousands of dollars in undeclared cash donations he said were handed over at the fundraiser.
“I would say that I absolutely reject any suggestion that I’ve committed any offence in relation to this or any other electoral matter,” Minns said on Thursday.
“I’ve been incredibly clear from the very beginning that we would comply with the law as it relates to electoral funding in NSW my compliance obligations, and of course, reject as a part, any illegal behaviour as it relates to donations or funding of election campaigns.
“I specifically reject any suggestion of a phone conversation with an individual suggesting that I was part of some conspiracy relating to donations and having them apply or sneak through the Electoral Commission. So I want to make it clear, I reject those allegations. They’re a decade old. They may well be investigated by third parties or investigation bodies. I think that’s a good thing.”
While the donations were revealed in the 2019 ICAC probe, the Minns fundraiser was not pursued by the corruption watchdog.
Scott Robertson, the counsel assisting the ICAC, said at the time that his questioning of witnesses in relation to the fundraiser was not targeted at Minns but to “shed light on the conduct” of others.
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