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THE Labor Party is taking urgent action to unwind a secret $200,000 donation, from a Taiwanese-born businessman, which it believes was arranged in breach of electoral laws for Kevin Rudd to conduct campaign polling on the eve of the election.
The massive donation from developer and former banker Kung Chin Yuan was paid into the then prime minister’s Griffith electorate branch bank account on September 3, allegedly without the knowledge of state Labor officials who are legally responsible for campaign contributions.
It is also alleged that the money - believed to be one of the biggest single donations in the federal campaign - was moved out of the ALP branch account within hours of it being paid from Mr Kung’s bank account in Taiwan.
The money was then handed over to Labor’s pollsters, UMR Research, to pay for polling privately commissioned by Mr Rudd and his political advisers, including Bruce Hawker. UMR polling, presented to Labor insiders in early August last year, canvassed voters about former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie running for a federal seat in Queensland.
Mr Rudd, who lost the prime ministership to Tony Abbott just days after the donation was made, has denied any wrongdoing, saying all campaign disclosures were the responsibility of the party. It is understood Mr Rudd was aware of the donation but denies having any role in arranging it.
ALP officials discovered the donation earlier this month during an audit that was ordered after the Griffith Federal Electoral Council failed to file its twice-yearly financial report to head office in late January.
Legal advice, commissioned by the Queensland ALP, found the donation was in breach of the Queensland Electoral Act, which bans political campaign funding from “foreign property”.
An extraordinary meeting of the ALP’s state administrative committee late yesterday voted to demand UMR refund the $200,000 to the ALP so that it can be returned to Mr Kung, who has made Labor donations in the past and in 2005 paid for Mr Rudd to travel to London. An internal investigation has been ordered into the handling of the donation, which also is alleged to breach a series of ALP rules, including one that forbids branches from holding more than $10,000 in their bank accounts.
In its resolutions, the ALP administrative committee said the state office only became aware of the donation on March 7 and that it “continue to ensure compliance with the ALP’s obligations with electoral legislation”.
The committee resolved to send a letter of demand to UMR “seeking a return of the monies transferred so that the monies may be returned to the donor as soon as possible”.
It said the ECQ should “immediately be advised of the circumstances of the transaction and the ALP’s intention to return the monies to the donor”.
And it resolved to take disciplinary action against the two signatories of the cheque - branch officials from the Griffith FEC - “for breaching party rules and engaging in conduct severely harmful to the interests of the party”
http://m.theaustralian.com.au/natio...o-rudds-campaign/story-fn59niix-1226859632963
Quigs was silent on this one, wonder what happened to the scapegoats
Jail them all
