Tangled web of Peters' vehicle

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A senior Internal Affairs spin doctor crowed to colleagues about killing off media interest in Winston Peters' ministerial car just days before it was found still sitting in his driveway, months after he was dumped from Parliament.

Internal Affairs strategic communications manager Colin Feslier also said the department was "not aware of any problems about payment for petrol or related costs", despite documents showing Mr Peters continued to charge back the cost of filling up his Ford Territory to VIP transport services, in November and December, after he had lost his seat in Parliament.

He did so twice outside the 14-day period of grace, on November 29 and December 10, documents issued yesterday show.

Internal Affairs chief executive Brendan Boyle said yesterday he was not happy with the way the story had been handled by Mr Feslier and it would be taken into account "in terms of Colin's performance".

Documents issued under the Official Information Act show a trail of emails between Mr Feslier, Dominion Post reporter Anna Chalmers, and other journalists about the length of time it took for Mr Peters' to return his self-drive ministerial car after the election.

Among the documents is a January 31 invoice to Mr Peters for $18,500, showing it was between 31 days and 60 days overdue.

But in a series of emails, Mr Feslier suggested there were no problems with the return of Mr Peters' car and insisted in a January 30 email that all cars were now "sold, back, or under our control".

In a subsequent email to colleagues, Mr Feslier said he had "managed I think to get TVNZ, TV3 and the DomPost to terminate their interest in this non-story".

When photographs were published showing the car in Mr Peters' driveway, the vehicle was returned. Mr Peters subsequently bought it.

The documents also detail correspondence between Mr Feslier and Dominion Post chief reporter Haydon Dewes, in which he was asked to explain.

"While people expect politicians to dance on the head of a pin, the media and the public should be able to expect civil servants ... to give straight answers," Mr Dewes wrote. Mr Feslier replied that his responses had been "accurate in every way".

Mr Boyle said yesterday that there had been no intention to mislead.

The information provided by Mr Feslier had also been accurate.

It appeared that Mr Feslier and reporters had been talking at cross purposes on some matters, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News