Key cops a battering over share revelations
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Labour today poured scorn on National leader John Key over his handling of his Tranz Rail shareholdings.
Mr Key has admitted he should have disclosed the full extent of his shareholding earlier, but has denied using his parliamentary position for personal profit.
He fronted media today after Finance Minister Michael Cullen yesterday accused him of lying about his shares.
Mr Key failed to disclose his Tranz Rail shareholding, which Labour says amounted to a conflict of interest, when he was National's associate transport spokesman in 2002 and 2003.
That was because he asked parliamentary questions about the Government's planned buyback of the country's rail tracks while holding the shares.
When Mr Key was questioned on the issue earlier this year he said his family trust had held 30,000 shares in the company, but sold them on June 9 and June 12, 2003.
But Dr Cullen revealed yesterday Mr Key's family trust had in fact owned 100,000 shares.
Dr Cullen said today Mr Key had initially tried to lie about the issue when asked about the issue by a reporter.
"He should have declared the conflict of interest. It is the perception around conflicts of interest, not just the reality."
It had been wrong of Mr Key to vigorously pursue information on Tranz Rail at the time the shares were being traded.
"He bought and sold shares at a profit, all of that while never disclosing an interest. He has been caught red-handed," Dr Cullen said.
Mr Key today said he did not know about the additional shares when he answered questions in July, but found out later on and should have disclosed it.
"I'm prepared to accept and I fully accept that. . . when I found out later on that there was a bigger shareholding even though the story had politically passed in the media, I should have come back and said that."
He said the number of shares varied at different times and was managed by a broker who had authority to act without referring back to the trust.
He said all the shares were owned by the trust and information on the share register that he had personally bought 50,00 shares was incorrect.
He said he did not personally gain from the shares and when rail started becoming a hot political issue, he sold them at a loss.
Labour has tried to paint Mr Key as a hypocrite for criticising New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, when he himself failed to disclose a pecuniary interest.
But Mr Key rejected that. He said his share information was on the public share register, there was no Register of Pecuniary Interests for MPs until 2005, and whether he owned 30,000 or 100,000 shares was irrelevant to conflict of interest questions.
Questioned on the issue before he was aware the information had been released yesterday, Mr Key told One News his shareholding ranged between 25,000 and 50,000 shares up until June 2003.
It wasn't until pressed on the issue he admitted there were more shares.
Today Mr Key said his initial reaction to the question was a "genuine mistake", but New Zealanders could still trust him.
"I'm a person who operates in an open way. If I've made a mistake I'll front up and say I've made mistake."
Mr Key said he had acted in 2003 to get rid of all his shares.
- NZPA
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It is incredible how little coverage this issue is getting and how the REALLY interesting details i.e. the TIMELINE of Mr Key buying and selling shares at the same time as using his privileged position in parliament to try and garner information about the TranzRail, have been removed from this article and omitted from others.
The message that is being hammered home by the media is that Mr Key was not up front about the NUMBER of shares he owned. This is only a minor detail!
The NUMBER of shares he owned is insignificant compared to the evidence that suggests Mr Key used his position in parliament to line his own pockets (or in this case, make a far, far smaller loss than he would have).
While I do believe Peters is guilty of telling porkies, it is blatantly obvious that Mr Key is also guilty and of potentially far worse impropriety. At least Winston wasn't using his position as an MP for personal financial gain!
This duplicity does lend some weight to the claims that Winston's prosecution has been politically motivated. This doesn't mean he is not guilty... But if the rules are been applied fairly across the board why isn't Mr Hide baying for Mr Key's blood?
Also during the live interview last night on Channel 1, Mr Key used a line that was lifted almost-verbatim from a comment on this very article. I can now no longer locate that comment. Hmm.
I haven't seen or heard anybody discussing the logistics here. If John Key has $50,000,000 and he has a share broker able to act on his behalf, how is John Key supposed to keep track of a measley $20,000 or $30,000 shareholding? I'm sure National wouldn't want to point this out to Joe Public because it looks elitist and arrogant because $30,000 is a lot to most people, but think about those logistics. $20k goes into $50M a massive 2500 times, so JK has 2500 times that amount to keep track of - would you, the die-hard Labour supporter reading this, be able to keep track of all your money and where it was at anyone time if you had that much and if you had a broker acting on his own accord buying and selling shares fairly frequently?
I thought this was no big deal until it was revealed that although the trust owned shares BEFORE he became an MP he personally bought more shares while he was an MP and while he was boasting about 'intensively questioning' cullen about the govt buying the tracks. Surely this isn't on.
You know,John Key will slip up but i will vote for him still cause he will front up & accept he stuffed up.we all do in life one time or another.This Labour party is pathetic.Labour preys on the fears of the voters.Only those on benefits will fall for this rubbish.Sweep them all out with Winston on this coming election people.We have had enough of nothing.We want people with vision to lead us.Come on National.
This is from Hansard:
John Key: "May I say that, prior to my coming into Parliament, I was on the record publicly as supporting this legislation.. But I, for one, will not be hiding my assets". If a few people run through my balance sheet and take delight in it, I say "Good on them!". I am not going to back away from it. I am proud of it, and I am going to stand up and defend it".
"transparency is an important part of the society we live in. We, as members of Parliament, have a great deal of responsibility, and even if it is uncomfortable to do some things, we nevertheless sometimes have to do them"
There - John Key damned by his own words.
Greg, prtty much everything you said couldn't be further from the truth.
NCEA - often consiered a world leading system, and an evolutionary improvement over old systems. RESEARCH - In the budget is a $700m fast forward fund. National has pledged to remove it. Labour also added millions to Marsden fund. AUSSIE - we've been going there for decades. It was worse in 1979, 1993 and the cycle is continuing. Spouting what the media feeds you isn't a good look. HEALTH - more operations. OECD study saying NZ health system one of the best. Learn to think for yourself. ECONOMY - Strongest period of growth in recent history. Well placed to withstand current crisis due to Labour paying off debts incurred by Nats. Looks like they're ready to rack them up again - that's bad management! EFA - Paid speech, not free speech and secret trusts banned (the ones National used to launder millions without the public knowing, but they knew the donor's identities). There are flaws but it's an improvemet over National's 1993 iteration. GANGS - thousand new police is a good start. What are National's alternatives? INTERNET - so, you're a socialist and want government intervention in the private sector - here's a tip: don't vote for a party on the right... HOUSING - you must have been running out of ideas, not space. You didn't even manage to blame Labour!
For all of those examples you gave, ask yourself what National would do, and try to not get sucked in by all the spin around the stories you hear. Otherwise, should National win ths year you'll be extremely disappointed by a party bereft of ideas... But if you've missed it - Key isn't interested in helping you. That much is obvious.
It's not Key's shares and his convenient memory lapse that I'm concerned about; it's the fact that he was part of the money dealing system that hasbrought the entire world economy to the brink of ruin. the 'small investors' who the so-called finacial whizz kids belittled are having to pay for the excessive income given to people like Key who traded fancy titled financial bonds. Keep Key and his ilk away from parliament.
Lets buy Tranzrail back!! We want state assets that cost the taxpayer millions each year that no one uses. At least it is OUR loss making millstone around our necks.
I am not surprised that pakeha are defending John Key! These are the same people who want to lynch Winston since Maori are always kept down in this country. Why the double standards? More money needs to go to Maori education. As much money should be spent on Maori as there is on Pakeha. Pakeha have got to get over their prejudices and give Maori jobs and a fair wage. Kia Kaha!!!!
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Well, this just goes to show how honest the representatives of the people really are - no wonder citizens are so cynical about our leaders!
The only choice we have, I guess, is to vote for the person who lies the least...
Kind of instils a great deal of confidence in the people charged with running our country doesn't it...
Sad indictment on society...