Peter Goodfellow confirms a business associate of the alleged donor at the centre of the Jami-Lee Ross saga is in Candidate College.

A friend of alleged donor Yikun Zhang has entered the party's Candidate College for the 2020 election, National Party President Peter Goodfellow says.

Colin Zheng, who works with Zhang, was mentioned as a possible candidate for the National Party following a discussion of a large donation allegedly organised by Zhang in a secretly taped conversation between then-National MP Jami-Lee Ross and party leader Simon Bridges last week.

Ross, discussing a dinner Bridges had with the wealthy Chinese businessman, mentioned there was "no catch", but candidacy had been discussed, and Zheng had put his name forward for Candidate College. The college acts as a kind of boot camp for potential National Party candidates, but it does not guarantee selection.

SUPPLIED Yikun Zhang with current National Party President Peter Goodfellow.

Bridges confirmed there had been discussion of "another Chinese candidate" but was still mulling over how to make room on the list for them.

Goodfellow said on Tuesday morning he had met Zheng at outreach events - not fundraising ones - and he had entered the party's Candidate College.

"I've known him for some time, I think he's a good potential candidate, I encouraged him to enter the college," Goodfellow said.

The Candidate College was launched in 2003 and is handled at a branch level. Many National MPs have gone through the college.

NZ First leader and foreign affairs minister Winston Peters has said the tape proves the National Party has a "cash-for-candiates" scheme - a charge Bridges rejects.

The tape forms part of the evidence Ross has put forward to support his allegation that Bridges illegally asked him to split up a $100,000 donation from Zhang into smaller anonymous parts.

That claim has not been proven, and Bridges utterly denies it.

Instead, he has said the party received a "large sum of money" in series of donations from Zhang and his supporters, which would make the transaction legal. These donations first went to Ross' own electorate account in Botany.

"I don't muck around with electoral law," Bridges said.

Zhang is "disappointed" his name has been dragged into a Kiwi political scandal, according to a Southland mayor who was travelling with him.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said she would love it if political parties would not have to fundraise, but she was not sure if there was a public mandate to publicly fund elections.

Stuff has contacted Zhang and Zheng for comment.