re: silently being bought and supporting corruptio Federal...

re: silently being bought and supporting corruptio Federal government minister Tony Abbott today denied trading favours with donors to a trust fund to fight One Nation in court.

One Nation dissident Terry Sharples alleged Mr Abbott gave favours to Perth construction magnate Harold Clough who donated money to the Australians for Honest Politics fund set up in 1998.

The Workplace Relations Minister would not confirm the 75-year-old former chairman of the international construction and engineering company Clough Limited was one of the donors to the $100,000 fund.

But Mr Abbott denied ever offering favours for money.

"I never make promises to secure funding from business people," Mr Abbott told the John Laws Show.

He said he offered an anonymous donor to cover Mr Sharples against any court costs if he lost a Queensland Supreme Court action against One Nation.

But Mr Sharples said he had been told by two sources including Mr Abbott that Mr Clough was a donor.

"On another occasion when I was talking to Tony Abbott, he also mentioned Harold Clough and that was in relation to Australians for Honest Politics," Mr Sharples told John Laws.
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"He said: 'You wouldn't believe the number of favours, Terry, we had to give away to get that money'."

Asked if Mr Sharples was a liar, Mr Abbott said: "We all have recollections of events.

"And certainly I don't recollect ever making any comment remotely like that."

Mr Sharples succeeded in having One Nation deregistered in Queensland which led to its founders Pauline Hanson and David Ettridge being jailed last week for electoral fraud.

Mr Clough is recently out of hospital and was not taking calls today, a spokeswoman said.

- AAP