0 We can't help but wonder...

We were sent a link earlier this morning by an alert reader. It was to a story in the NZ Herald in May 2005, and concerned former Labour list contender Steven Ching, about whom we blogged yesterday.

And this bit stuck out:

So we can't help but wonder; is the Raymond Huo referred to in this story as Steven Ching's lawyer the same Raymond Huo who became a Labour List MP at the 2008 General Election?

Then we saw DPF's post from  last night:

A statement from Steven Ching:

1. Today (June 26,2014) the NZ Herald’s report regarding me was incorrect. The Journalist Jared Savage didn’t consult with me before making the story. I don’t know who had made Mr.Liu to buy the wine and book for Labour Party. I reserve my right to sue the NZ Herald.
2. To my best knowledge I didn’t took Mr.Liu to Labour New Lynn Office seeking  support for his immigration case. It’s better to ask Mr.Henry Mao of MMW Consulting (group) who was his agent in NZ to clarify this matter. He may know who had helped Mr.Liu to donate funds to Labour Party.
3. After 2005  I was no longer a candidate for Labour, So It’s better to ask Mr.Raymond Huo or Ms.Susan Zhu to understand any details of Chinese community fundraising function.
4. In April,2007 I was invited to attend a fundraising party as a guest only. I was no longer an organizer for Labour to raise any funds after 2005 election.

This is interesting. Ching says Susan Zhu is the one to ask about fundraising from the Chinese community. Ms Zhu is a lawyer working for Presland & Co. Yes that Presland – the one who set up David Cunliffe’s secret trust for him.

That Raymond Huo and Susan Zhu have been publicly identified by Steven Ching as being fundraisers for Labour from the Chinese community is indeed interesting. That Ms Zhu works for Greg Presland, who set up David Cunliffe's secret trust to which anonymous donations were made begs the obvious question. Has today brought us a step closer to finding the source of David Cunliffe's anonymous donations?

People will continue to speculate about who Mr Cunliffe's anonymous backers were until the cows come home. Of course, David Cunliffe could end the speculation by telling the country who wanted him to be leader so much that they dug into their hip pockets.

Will he do that? Probably not. Will we continue to ask questions? What do you think? The ball is in Mr Cunliffe's court.

0 Tweet of the Day - 21 June 2014

David Cunliffe's legal adviser and friend Greg Presland got into something of a verbal joust on Twitter last night. That sort of thing is never going to end well, and this spat was no exception; the conversation died when this was posted:

David Cunliffe opened himself up to accusations of hypocrisy when he allowed a secret trust to be established so that he could receive anonymous donations to his Labour's Got Talent campaign. 

Having spent years helping fuel Labour's attacks on John Key and his "rich mates", Cunliffe's error of judgment showed that he was either just as dodgy as he has accused the PM of being, stupid enough to believe he wouldn't get caught out, or venal enough to not care.

Take your pick as to which.