The NSW Electoral Commission is investigating whether the Independent Candidate for Dubbo Mathew Dickerson has circumvented expenditure prohibitions in breach of the Electoral Funding Act.
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The act says a person who enters into or carries out a scheme (whether alone or with others) for the purpose of circumventing a prohibition or requirement with respect to political donations or electoral expenditure is guilty of an offence.
The maximum penalty (on conviction on indictment) is 10 years in prison.
Mr Dickerson acknowledged the Electoral Commission had contacted him and said he was confident he had complied with all requirements of the Electoral Funding Act.
“The electoral commission visited me on Wednesday, December 5 and said they have never received so many frivolous complaints this early in a campaign," he said.
"They asked questions about the spurious accusations made against me and, at this stage, no further information has been requested from me and no breach was found.”
Mr Dickerson said he has already lodged his half-yearly disclosure for a candidate for the period of Jul-Dec 2018.
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"I will have to lodge further documentation to comply with the requirements of the Electoral Funding Act," he said.
"It is an offence to give information to the Electoral Commission that is false or misleading and, as such, all information I lodge in my forms is correct and I am confident that I fully comply with all requirements of the Electoral Funding Act. "
Mr Dickerson said his business Axxis is not a donor to his campaign.
"Neither I nor Axxis has received or will receive any political donations and Axxis is not a third-party campaigner," he said.
"Axxis is a telecommunications business that I own and it advertises in a very competitive telecommunications market.”
The NSW Electoral Commission was approached for comment.
A spokesperson said the commission would not comment on specific compliance matters or whether or not it was conducting an investigation.
Mr Dickerson is currently running against National’s candidate Dugald Saunders, Country Labor candidate Stephen Lawrence, Greens candidate Rod Pryor and Shooters and Fishers candidate Lara Quealy.
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