Ray Williams donation scandal: Multiculturalism Minister cleared over allegations of developers’ donations

LIBERAL MP Ray Williams accepted donations from three property developers, the Electoral Commission has found, but will avoid punishment because a donation was made more than three years ago.

• NSW Minister ‘took thousands in payments from developers’
• Cash from developer funnelled through Hawkesbury Club

LIBERAL MP Ray Williams accepted donations from three property developers, the Electoral Commision has found, but will escape any penalty because a donation was made more than three years ago.

The Electoral Commission’s investigation, instigated after The Daily Telegraph obtained cheques, receipts and internal financial records of donations to Mr Williams’ electoral fund, discovered Mr Williams had received donations from three property developers, out of the seven it probed.

The Commission said it had already seized the donation from one developer, the Liberal party had repaid a donation from a second property developer and the third developer donation fell outside the three-year window where action could be legally taken.

Many of the 11 Liberal MPs who lost their job over ICAC allegations that they corruptly received prohibited donations — allegations that were mostly never proven — are angered Mr Williams is still in Cabinet.

Former MP for The Entrance Chris Spence was forced to stand down amid allegations of receiving donations from prohibited donors.

“There’s no consistency or justice in this,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

Multiculturalism Minister Ray Williams.

“Ray Williams has now been found to have accepted donations ... and he’s still in parliament and yet I’ve found to have done absolutely nothing wrong and yet I’m history. I was wiped.

“In my case, not one was found to have been a prohibited donor and the money that I received were not donations.”

Two other Liberal MPs who also lost their jobs, Andrew Cornwall and Tim Owen, had received donations that were passed the statute of limitations, like Mr Williams, but were not returned to Parliament.

The Commission launched an investigation into Mr Williams’ donations after The Daily Telegraph obtained cheques, receipts and internal financial records of Mr Williams’ electoral fund, the Hawkesbury Club.

The probe centred around whether the Multiculturalism Minister “had collected or accepted illegal donations from property developers for the benefit of the Liberal Party of Australia”.

“The Commission has not found any evidence that Mr Williams committed an offence under the Act,” it said in a statement.

The Commission found three of the seven people they examined to be “property developers, as defined by the Act, at the time of making their donations”.

“One donation was returned by the Liberal Party to the relevant individual in the same year in which it was made,” the Commission said.

“An amount equal to the donation made by one individual had previously been recovered by the Commission from the Liberal Party.”

But the NSW Minister could still be in the woods, with no word from Premier Gladys Berejiklian about his future in Cabinet.

The MP looks forward to continuing “to represent the electorate of Castle Hill and getting on with the job for the people of NSW”. Picture: Jess Husband.

It also said legal action in relation to one of those donations was “statute barred”, meaning any allegation would had to have been acted upon within three years of the donation being made.

In a statement, Mr Williams said he looked forward to “continuing to represent the electorate of Castle Hill and getting on with the job for the people of NSW”.

“I welcome today’s findings by the NSW Electoral Commission clearing my name,” he said.

“I take my responsibilities in government very seriously and have always acted with the highest level of integrity.”

Premier Gladys Berejiklian declined to comment but it is understood Mr Williams will remain in Cabinet.

Former Londonderry MP Bart Bassett said he was “angered” by how ICAC had treated his matter — where he was forced to leave Parliament — compared to the current investigation into Mr Williams.

“I’m angered that ICAC felt that they would investigate MPs for electoral funding matters when it proves that the body that should have been doing this is the Electoral commission,” he said.

“We should have all been assessed in the exact same way as Ray Williams has been assessed.”

Leader of the Opposition in the upper house, Adam Searle, called on the Liberal Party to apologise over the matter.

“Yet again, the Liberal Party has been caught flouting the ban on taking political donations from property developers,” he said.

“They have only escaped action because of the length of time it took for this to be uncovered.

“It is not right that the Liberal Party benefits from their ability to conceal these donations — so that they are then protected by the time limits for commencing any action.”