Photo: NZ HeraldPrime Minister Jacinda Ardern has swiftly changed tack in explicitly expressing trust in Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters. Ardern said even if the SFO laid charges, Peters' hands might be clean. Peters had stood aside as Foreign Minister in 2008 when the SFO investigated donations to NZ First made through the Spencer Trust. Peters has previously said the NZ First Foundation operated in the same way as the National Party Foundation, but Bridges rejected that. "It's entirely disingenuous and misleading to say that somehow the SFO charges in relation to four people are about the National Party."

Source: Otago Daily Times February 11, 2020 02:03 UTC