Do you remember this little episode back in April, have a quick read to
remind yourself of how bad / strange / shameful our governments connections are to those willing to
use their friendship and personal contacts to benefit themselves rather than
the country as a whole.
1. This
pattern of behaviour has become all too common these days…
Monday,
April 18, 2016
Earl Hagaman, the founder of Scenic Hotel Group,
gave $101,000 to the National Party in September 2014. In October, Scenic Hotel
Group announced it had the contract for the Matavai Resort on Niue - a contract
awarded by a trust which was appointed by Foreign Minister Murray McCully to
oversee the resort.
Mr McCully told RNZ National that there was no link between the donation and the contract and he had not been involved in awarding the contract. That was decided by the Niue Tourism Property Trust after running an international and competitive process. Mr McCully appoints the trustees for that but said he was not involved in the decision. "I can tell you that I had no involvement in the appointment process, conducted purely by the trustees and commercial management they appointed.
Mr McCully told RNZ National that there was no link between the donation and the contract and he had not been involved in awarding the contract. That was decided by the Niue Tourism Property Trust after running an international and competitive process. Mr McCully appoints the trustees for that but said he was not involved in the decision. "I can tell you that I had no involvement in the appointment process, conducted purely by the trustees and commercial management they appointed.
No link? Yeah, right. From another Minister, it might be believable that this was all some dreadful, terrible-looking coincidence. But from Murray McCully, a determined micromanager with a history of dodgy dealings and outright corruption, its simply not. The Auditor-General needs to investigate, and if there's even a hint that McCully had anything to do with it, the contract must be voided and prosecutions brought. We cannot allow Australian-style corruption and kickbacks to take root in our government.
As for Hagaman, he shouldn't have donated. You can do business with the government, or you can donate to political parties, but you simply cannot do both - at least not if you want to avoid any perception of corruption. By donating when an important decision was being made, Hagaman has irrevocably tainted it in the public eye. And he really has no-one to blame for that but himself.
2. Now No Right Turn has
revealed yet more strange happenings regarding donations to the National
Party…that resulted in rewards for the donors.
Well here is
yet another accidental happening:
Returns
of political party loans and donations are out today, and they
expose another amazing coincidence in the National
Party's donations. In 2015, the party received $15,800
in donations from Christine Che.
By utter coincidence, Mrs Che was awarded a QSM
"for services to the Chinese community" (a newsletter
from the Auckland Justices of the Peace Association makes it clear that this is
indeed the same person).
What an amazing coincidence! In fact, its amazing just how often this happens! But I'm sure that, like the PM's personal lawyer lobbying and getting policy changes, we shouldn't read too much into it.
What an amazing coincidence! In fact, its amazing just how often this happens! But I'm sure that, like the PM's personal lawyer lobbying and getting policy changes, we shouldn't read too much into it.
John
Key's lawyer, Ken Whitney, was criticised by the High Court after creating a
sham trust for a bankrupt property developer then failing to disclose it to
authorities probing his client's insolvency.
When asked during cross-examination if he had concerns around setting up structures to allow a bankrupt to continue in business, Mr Whitney told the court: "No, not particularly. It's a common thing for people to do. It may not be morally as white as it could be but it's normal practice."
When asked during cross-examination if he had concerns around setting up structures to allow a bankrupt to continue in business, Mr Whitney told the court: "No, not particularly. It's a common thing for people to do. It may not be morally as white as it could be but it's normal practice."
According to the article, Whitney lied repeatedly to the Official Assignee, and falsely claimed to have witnessed a signature. There don't even meet the ethical standards of lawyers, let alone ordinary kiwis. In fact, some but even call it criminal.
But clearly, Key has different definitions of "highly" and "ethical" from the rest of us.
The meltdown at TV3 has peaked with
the madness that is Mark Weldon finally being forced to walk the plank.
His political meddling in damaging the network demanded a resignation, and it’s
happened.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
But look at how Rachel Glucina, whom
he infamously hired, had to say…
- See more at:
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/05/04/weldon-kicked-out-of-tv3-and-how-scout-covered-it/#sthash.aLsoKjdB.dpuf
4.
Now and then [but rarely investigated by the MSM] what John Key touches goes
shockingly wrong and back-fires and turns to custard to such an extent that Key
has to turn his back and pretend he
Some in the
media considered Weldon to be Keys specially appointed media manipulator
henchman, of course I couldn’t comment on that.
Rachel Glucina
continued her endless string of media fibs when she wrote, just yesterday
suggesting that Mark Weldon was a ‘visionary; he’s about as visionary as John
Key was when he said he ‘wouldn’t’ increase GST from 12.5% to 15%...and as soon
as he was elected he did! Lies come easy when you are well practiced at telling
them and keeping a straight face.
Mark Weldon
at the bequest of good mate John Key dumped John Campbell and a whole bunch of
TV3 staff involved in news presentation, why because they kept reporting the
facts rather than simply parroting national party PR spin…Seriously folks the
PM actually runs TVNZ, via Hosking and the fact that government controls the
purse strings. He also controlled TV3 via Weldon, Glucina and Paul Henry…and a
below market rate loan via Steven Joyce, but with Weldon gone he’ll need to
find yet
another dummy to act as the front man. RNZ’s Jim Mora, an obvious Key
supporter and backer spends a great deal of his panel and radio time defending
the PM, by forever interviewing right-wing bloggers and national party
pollsters…And the nine to noon programme has yet to find a real ‘from the left’
front person for it’s; From the left and right 11am Monday interview. The
government has already cut funding to Maori TV and is not keeping up with
inflation in funding Radio New Zealand [National Radio]
 |
| Jim Mora |
No comments:
Post a Comment