$500,000 donation for Conservative Party

Colin Craig
Colin Craig
Colin Craig's Conservative Party has received a hefty new donation - $500,000 from Hamilton couple Laurence and Katrina Day.

The donation made yesterday and disclosed this morning on the Electoral Commission website is on top of the $75,000 received from the couple in March and $100,000 in May last year taking their total payments to the party to $675,000.

Mr Craig poured a further $50,000 of his own money into his campaign war chest last week, the site shows.

Not including the $1.6 million Mr Craig gave his party in May 2012 as the repayment of a loan to fight the 2011 election, he has now donated a total of $890,000 to fight this year's election.

Other big recent political donations disclosed on the Electoral Commission site include $110,000 donated to the Maori Party by Rorohara Farms Ltd, a company owned by Mainfreight chairman Bruce Plested who also donated to former party Co-leader Pita Sharples' 2011 campaign in Tamaki Makaurau.

- By Adam Bennett of the New Zealand Herald

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