The key witness in an electoral fraud trial denies that he changed his mind about a large donation after he fell out with the recipient, Billy Te Kahika Jnr.

Michael Kelly, former chairman of the short-lived Advance NZ Party, said he was “disappointed” with Te Kahika after the 2020 general election but never became angry or vengeful towards him.

Te Kahika, a former Advance NZ candidate, is facing charges of obtaining $15,000 in donations by deception and failing to disclose them to the Electoral Commission.

He has pleaded not guilty and is facing a jury trial in the Auckland District Court this week.

Te Kahika’s defence is that Kelly gave him the money as a personal gift but later “re-characterised” it as a political donation as an act of revenge after their friendship deteriorated.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Paul Borich KC this morning, Kelly downplayed the fallout between himself and Te Kahika after the 2020 election.

Following Advance NZ’s unsuccessful election campaign, Te Kahika decided to resign from Advance NZ.

An email by Kelly to Te Kahika five days after the election was read to the court, in which Kelly criticised Te Kahika’s decision to quit and urged him to reconsider.

 “That made you unhappy, didn’t it?” Borich asked Kelly in court.

“Disappointed is a better word,” Kelly said. “I think it was a mistake, yes.”

Borich suggested that Te Kahika had ignored the advice of a trusted advisor.

“I didn’t feel a level of anger,” Kelly responded. “I’m just not that sort of person.”

He added: “They are not angry words, they are not abusive in any way.”

Kelly rejected Borich’s suggestion that he became “vengeful” after Te Kahika ignored his advice.

Yesterday, the court heard that Kelly complained to the Electoral Commission after discovering that Te Kahika had not disclosed his payments, as required by law.

Kelly confirmed to the court today that he also posted several memes to social media after Te Kahika resigned which mocked the Advance NZ candidate.

Kelly said this was out of amusement rather than anger or resentment.

Te Kahika, sitting in the dock, appeared to become tearful during this discussion and was later handed a box of tissues.

The court also heard about a dispute that emerged after the 2020 election between the two parties that had joined forces - Jami-Lee Ross’ Advance NZ and Te Kahika’s NZ Public Party.

Borich asked about a disagreement over $60,000 in a bank account associated with Advance NZ, which Kelly was a co-signatory to.

Members of the NZ Public Party were threatening to make a complaint to the police over the money, the court heard.

Borich asked Kelly whether the prospect of a police complaint had prompted him to feel vengeful against Te Kahika.

“No,” he said. “If a law was broken then the police should have investigated it.”

Under questioning from Crown prosecutor Joanne Lee, Kelly reiterated that his two payments of $10,000 and $5000 were political donations to pay for new billboards.

If Te Kahika had indicated that the money would be used for personal expenses, Kelly would have “asked for it back”, he said.

“It wasn’t to fund his lifestyle,” he said.

The trial, before Justice Kate Davenport, is set down for four days.