'Sneaky' Brethren sparked donation

'I thought, poor old Labour; let's make this a little more interesting'

JOHN SELKIRK/The Dominion Post

BIG BOOST: Expatriate billionaire Owen Glen gave $500,000 to Labour before the last election.

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The Exclusive Brethren's "sneaky" campaign to oust the Labour government at the last election prompted one of New Zealand's richest men to level the playing field with $500,000.

It was not, said expatriate billionaire Owen Glenn, a payment for his New Year's gong, as some had claimed after he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

"Everyone thinks there is a subplot here, but there's not," he said. "I just thought it would be a good thing to do ... spice up the race a little bit."

Born in India and raised in New Zealand, Mr Glenn now lives in Monaco. He is still a New Zealand citizen and returned this week to open Auckland University's business school.

He has given $7.5 million toward the $50 million cost and $600,000 a year in scholarships. The school has been named after him and the study hall after his late mother.

With tongue firmly in cheek, Mr Glenn quipped that he had paid far more to get his name on the building than he did for the gong.

In fact, the donation to the business school was the biggest he had made in New Zealand, and possibly the world, he said.

Mr Glenn did not go to university because his father fell ill while he was a teenager and there was no money. Instead, he worked his way through a series of labouring jobs in New Zealand and in Europe.

Eventually, with $200,000 capital, he started his freight forwarding business, OTS Logistics. Today, he is reportedly worth $1 billion - a claim he refuses to confirm: "Everything is held in trust, so I can truthfully say I have about $200 million."

Having set up a charitable foundation 27 years ago, Mr Glenn has given money to many projects across the globe. He made the decision to give $500,000 to the New Zealand Labour Party while on his yacht in the Caribbean.

"There was a little bit of controversy to do with some church that had done something."

That controversy was a $1 million campaign by the Exclusive Brethren to get National elected, a move that sparked the Government's race to bring in new electoral finance laws before this year's election.

What really riled Mr Glenn was the "sneaky" way in which the Brethren had reportedly tried to hide the fact it was behind the campaign.

"I thought, `Poor old Labour; let's make this a little more interesting.' There's a little bit of imp in me."

Besides, he believed Prime Minister Helen Clark had been doing a good job of running the country.

She was determined, honest and really cared about the country and its people, he said. "I think you get a fair deal from her."

So he settled on $500,000 - because $100,000 was not enough and $1 million was too much.

In the past, Miss Clark had tried to lure him back to New Zealand and into the Labour Cabinet, suggesting that, with his background, he would be a sitter for the plum role of transport minister.

But Mr Glenn was not convinced, saying that, with all the major transport assets sold off to private owners, there would be little for him to do.

He had not given any thought to whether he would donate to Labour's campaign again this year, or to any other political party, but believed they no longer needed his help.

After the last election, he told the Labour Party to ditch the begging bowl and lent the party "a relatively small amount of money" to employ the services of fundraisers.

"From what I'm told, they got some very good advice ... they should be self-supporting now." The loan has since been repaid.

As for Labour's performance since his controversial donation, Mr Glenn said Miss Clark had done an "adequate" job, having got a free trade deal with China. But now, for the sake of expediency, New Zealand needed to drop its no-nuclear stance and do a deal with the United States.

"Get the bloody thing. Pump another $4 billion into the country so we can afford another beer and put another ten bucks on the horses."

- © Fairfax NZ News