A trial date has been set for independent MP Jami-Lee Ross who denies charges related to National Party donations.
Ross' case will be heard before a jury on September 6, 2021.
Jami-Lee Ross appeared in the High Court in Auckland on Wednesday alongside three other businessman facing the charges - Zhang Yikun, Colin Zheng and Zheng Hengjia.
Not guilty pleas were entered by all men in February.
Ross, Zhang and Colin Zheng face charges of deception over the $100,000 donation in 2017. All four defendants also face charges of deception over a $100,050 donation in 2018. Additionally, Hengjia Zheng is also facing a charge of providing misleading information to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
The SFO announced in January that criminal charges would be filed against the four men, at the time unnamed. Their identities were revealed in February.
It was initially understood the charges related to a single $100,000 donation from Zhang to National, which was revealed during Ross' public falling out with former National leader Simon Bridges in 2018. Ross alleged that the donation had been chopped up into smaller amounts to stop it needing to be declared. But last week it emerged charges also related to a second $100,000 donation.
The court documents show the SFO alleges "the defendants adopted a fraudulent device, trick, or stratagem whereby the 2018 donation was split into sums of money less than $15,000, and transferred into the bank accounts or eight different people, before being paid to, and retained by, the National Party".
