Tim Jago during his court appearance in November. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
Warning: This story contains details of sex abuse
The ACT Party says it took immediate action after learning its former president had been charged with sexual abuse.
Tim Jago can now be named as the former political figure found guilty of abusing two teenage boys in the 1990s.
The boys, now men, gave evidence at trial in 2024, saying they had partied with him on separate occasions and woken up in his bed to him assaulting them.
The pair had known him as a mentor figure through a sports club.
The second survivor came forward immediately in 1999 and the police investigated the complaint but laid no charges.
It was not until more than 20 years later when the first survivor, assaulted in 1995, saw Jago in a news article that he came forward to the police.
A jury took three hours to come back with unanimous guilty verdicts to all eight charges of indecent assault after a week-long jury trial in the Auckland District Court last August.
Jago had been the ACT Party's president for nearly four years when he resigned from the role in late January 2023.
RNZ has previously reported the survivor's wife contacted the ACT Party on Facebook three months before Jago was charged, warning that Jago was a sexual predator.
A party staffer initially dealt with the message before ACT leader David Seymour personally responded and advised she contact a lawyer.
He gave the woman the phone number of an employment lawyer and said she and her husband were free to contact them. He added he hoped the pair found a satisfactory response.
The survivor's wife wrote back to ACT saying her husband had decided to go to the police instead in the hope he could prevent further offending.
The ACT Party addressed this exchange for the first time on Friday, after Jago abandoned his name suppression appeal and could be publicly identified for the first time.
The statement, attributed to the party, said it had taken the original allegation "extremely seriously" when first made aware of it in November 2022.
"We took immediate steps to check the authenticity of the claim and questioned him about it. He categorically denied the allegation.
"We were deeply shocked to learn that the complaint was real and a police investigation was underway."
Advice sought from KC
The party said it sought guidance and advice from Paul Wicks KC as to the appropriate steps to take and followed that advice "to the letter".
"When we learned that Mr Jago had been arrested and charged we asked at once for his resignation from the board and the party, and accepted it.
"He has had no involvement with the party since this date."
The party said Wicks KC had reviewed the party's handling of the matter and advised the steps "had properly discharged any obligations to the complainant and acted in accordance with the interests of justice".
"In the time that Mr Jago was a member and president of the party there were no indications of any wrongdoing.
"We respect the outcome of the court process and commend the courage of those who have come forward. We hope this verdict brings them some closure.
"The events occurred 20 years before his involvement with the ACT Party began and there was no way of knowing about his offending at the time.
"This is not a time for politics, it is a day of justice for survivors."
It was the Crown's case that Jago "took advantage" of the two teenage boys by giving them alcohol and abusing them when they were "intoxicated, vulnerable and alone".
Both complainants told similar stories; that they had got drunk at sports club events or social gatherings and woken up in bed with the defendant abusing them.
The police investigated one complainant's story in 1999, speaking to more than half a dozen witnesses and recording a statement from the defendant, but never charged Jago.
This complainant had told the police he had been intoxicated at a social gathering and woke up in Jago's bed to find Jago squeezing his groin area and putting his own hand on Jago's pubic area.
This file was then pulled when a second complainant came forward in late 2022 after seeing Jago in a news article.
The second complainant told police he was assaulted on two separate occasions, where he had been drinking with Jago and others, become drunk and found himself in bed with Jago.
He told the police the man touched his penis, put his own penis on the complainant's anus and touched the complainant's anus with his hands.
The second complainant had not disclosed the abuse to the police when he had been contacted in early 2000, as part of the 1999 police investigation.
His lawyer Ian Brookie suggested the second complainant had made his allegations up because Jago had done well for himself in a political role.
Crown prosecutor Rebekah Thompson later pointed out this did not square with the fact the man had told his sister about the abuse in the 1990s.
Jago, currently in prison serving a two-and-a-half year sentence, maintains his innocence. Friday's development will not affect his plans to appeal both his convictions and sentence.
Where to get help for sexual violence
Victim Support 0800 842 846
Rape Crisis 0800 88 33 00
HELP Call 24/7 (Auckland): 09 623 1700, (Wellington): 04 801 6655 - push 0 at the menu
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) 022 344 0496
