New Zealand opposition leader Simon Bridges accused of hiding donation from Chinese businessman
Bridges said the accusations were baseless, that he’d done nothing wrong, and that he welcomed a police investigation
New Zealand’s conservative opposition party was in turmoil Tuesday after one of its own lawmakers accused leader Simon Bridges of corruption for hiding a donation from a wealthy Chinese businessman.
Jami-Lee Ross made the allegation and then said he was resigning from Parliament. Ross said he regretted his own complicity in a scheme to split the party donation into a series of smaller amounts to avoid it being publicly disclosed.
Ross said he planned to provide evidence to police and to release a phone conversation with Bridges that he’d secretly taped.
“I believe Simon Bridges is a corrupt politician,” Ross said.
Soon after, Bridges said the National Party caucus had unanimously voted to expel Ross.
“We are talking about a guy who’s lying, who’s leaking, who’s lashing out,” Bridges said.