Between late April and early May, the Victorian branch of the Liberals received a total of $58,800 from a dozen businesses all named variations of Mensch Investments, Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) records show.
Nine of the companies are named Mensch Investments Industrial, and are differentiated only by a single number from SL7-1 through to SL7-9. All nine have the same directors: businessmen David Scalzo, Anthony Caligiuri and Eli Goldfinger. Caligiuri and Scalzo are the shareholders of each of the companies, which are all registered at the address of Goldfinger's St Kilda Road advisory business. Collectively, the nine businesses donated $44,100 in a single week.
The other three companies are named Mensch Investments Partnership, and numbered one through three. Corporate records identify them as SG Mensch Investments companies, with Scalzo listed as the sole director of each and all registered to the address of his South Melbourne office. Each of the three companies individually donated $4900.
Between April 30 and May 4, the combined total of the donations by the 12 companies gave a $58,800 cash boost to the Liberal Party.
At the time the donations were made, Victoria's political donations were capped at $5190 from a single donor or organisation over a four-year parliamentary term. The cap applies to entities that are "related", meaning businesses that are connected by parent companies, subsidiaries or holding companies can collectively still only donate up to the cap. But companies are not necessarily considered related simply because they share the same directors.