20 September 2023
By email:
[FYI request #23768 email]
Attention: Cameron Slater
Tēnā koe Mr Slater,
Request for official information about the cost of political donation prosecutions
Our Ref: OIA353/1
1.
I refer to your request to the Serious Fraud Office (
the SFO) dated 10 August
2023 (submitted through the FYI website) for the following official information in
relation to the prosecution of individuals in connection with donations made to
the Labour, National and NZ First parties:
(a)
The total cost of the prosecutions.
(b)
To identify the “outside (non SFO) consultants, accounting experts and
lawyers” engaged in each of the prosecutions, with costs to be itemised.
(c)
Any documents showing why the SFO required the engagement of
outside expertise/consultants rather than use their own in-house
expertise.
2.
In a letter dated 7 September 2023, the SFO informed you of the total costs
incurred by that Office to investigate and prosecute each case and to engage
lawyers (Panel counsel). They also informed you no consultants or external
accountants were engaged and explained why they engaged Panel counsel.
3.
As the SFO advised in a letter of 23 August 2023, part of your request was
transferred to this Office. That is because, when the defendants pleaded and the
cases became Crown prosecutions, this Office assumed responsibility for the
costs of SFO Panel counsel engaged in the prosecutions from that point onwards.
4.
Details of payments made to Panel counsel once this matter became a Crown
prosecution are set out in
Table 1 below. Note that, as the Labour and National
Party prosecutions were joined by the Court in November 2021, it was not
Level 3 Justice
Centre, 19 Aitken Street, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 2858 or DX SP20208, Wellington 6140, New Zealand | +64 4 472 1719 | crownlaw.govt.nz
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possible to separate the costs as they relate to those two political parties. They
are therefore grouped.
Table 1
Invoice amount excl
Item
GST
Labour/National
$317,839.93
Katie Hogan
$88,375.00
John Dixon KC
$111,704.24
Stephen Bonnar
$4,950.00
KC
Paul Wicks KC
$112,810.69
NZ First
$263,110.94
James Carruthers
$90,977.04
John Dixon KC
$105,447.50
Stephen Bonnar
$1,683.00
KC
Paul Wicks KC
$65,003.40
Grand Total
$580,950.87
5.
There were appeals conducted in relation to these prosecutions.
6.
The external lawyers engaged by this Office to appear on appeals were Paul
Wicks KC and Katie Hogan. The total cost incurred by this Office in relation to
them was $25,747.
7.
A total of 161 hours has been recorded by Crown Law counsel on the appeal
files. Crown Law staff are salaried workers and do not present invoices for their
work. As a result, we cannot provide the cost of this time. Non-legal staff at
Crown Law do not record time, so there is no data associated with any non-legal
activity on the files. The recorded Crown Law time includes the time of counsel
who appeared on the appeals (Stuart Baker and Rebecca Thomson) and also
other counsel who were not directly engaged but performed review and
oversight functions.
8.
Note that appeal files in relation to the National and New Zealand First Party
prosecutions are still active. The costs and time accrued by this Office in relation
to those files are as at 15 September 2023.
9.
Please note that we may publish this response (with your personal details
redacted), and any related documents, on Crown Law’s website if we decide
proactive release of this information is or may be in the public interest. If you
have any concerns about this, please let us know within 10 working days of the
date of this letter.
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10.
If you wish to discuss this decision with us, please feel free to contact
[email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Crown Law
Zannah Johnston
Crown Counsel & Team Manager (Acting)
7499722_OIA_ LETTER TO CAM SLATER -.DOC
