Key hits back at Labour BMW claims

ASKING QUESTIONS: Trevor Mallard said in another country Prime Minister John Key's actions "would be called corruption".

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LATEST: Labour's latest attempt to smear the Prime Minister has turned ugly with John Key accusing some opposition MPs of lying.

Labour continued its attacks on Key in Parliament yesterday questioning possible links between the rollover of the ministerial BMW contract and a $50,000 donation to the National Party.

Labour MP Trevor Mallard came close to calling the Government corrupt and his colleague Chris Hipkins raised questions in Parliament about the donation to National last July 30 from Team McMillan, an Auckland BMW dealership.

He said the donation followed a meeting by Key's chief of staff, Wayne Eagleson, with officials about the rollover of the BMWs.

Details of the 34 new $200,000 BMWs were revealed in February. Key said then that the three-year rollover was part of a six-year deal signed off by the previous Labour government.

This morning, Key hit back during an appearance on Classic Hits Wellington breakfast show saying Mallard and Hipkins were lying and would have been sued if they had made the comments outside of Parliament.

"Hipkins and Mallard were lying yesterday, they just lie and you know, see, I'm saying this on the radio, if I'm wrong they can sue me, but they never will because they know I'm right."

Their comments were protected by parliamentary privilege which Labour was using to support its muck-racking, Key told the radio show. "If they came outside and made those accusations they'd be sued."

Parliamentary privilege was intended to protect MPs who wanted to raise an issue when there was some basis to it, he said.

In Parliament yesterday, Mallard said the two events created a perception of a conflict on interest.

"If that was overseas, we would say it is corruption."

Key had transferred "the morals and ethics of Merrill Lynch - a company that was at the end of a lot of deals and went down when the financial crisis came" to being prime minister, he said.

"He schmoozed up to the client for that BMW dealer, got $50,000 for the National Party for doing that, and there was an order for BMWs all in the period of three weeks."

Key said yesterday that the claims were nonsense and a baseless smear on his integrity. "BMW NZ is not the same entity as the one named by a Labour MP as having made a donation to the National Party."

Team McMillan director Bob McMillan said the company had no involvement with the supply of ministerial cars.

- © Fairfax NZ News