Cabinet secretary Arthur Sinodinos has again denied wrongdoing as he enlists lawyers to fight a New South Wales Electoral Commission report.



Sinodinos is seeking a retraction of references to himself in the report that he says uses “loose language”, which could convey erroneous impressions about the NSW Liberal party political donations scandal.

The commission is refusing to pay the Liberals more than $4.4m until it reveals the identities of secret donors who poured about $700,000 into the party’s coffers before the 2011 state election, when Sinodinos was its treasurer and finance director.

“Despite what Labor says, the NSW Electoral Commission decision does not accuse me of setting up a slush fund or breaking the law,” he said in a statement on Saturday. “I have never been accused of corruption. I deny any wrongdoing or illegality.”

Sinodinos has personally, and through a seven-page letter from his lawyers released on Friday night, called for a retraction of references to himself in the commission report, which was made public on Wednesday.

He earlier slammed the report as “flawed”, believing it erroneously conveyed that he knowingly disguised donations.

Sinodinos has refused to respond to “unsubstantiated rumours, gossip or scuttlebutt” published in the wake of the report, which has again prompted calls for him to resign or be stood aside.

Deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek accused prime minister Malcolm Turnbull of protecting the senator by refusing to stand him down.

She said Turnbull wasn’t prepared to take action against his “numbers man” because he needed him in the face of a resurgent right wing of the Liberal party.

“The only conclusion you can draw about the fact that Mr Turnbull is not prepared to act to stand Senator Sinodinos aside is that he can’t afford to,” she told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.