Back to the Winebox

Wow yesterday was like a flashback to 20 years ago, with Winston attacking Sir Michael Fay and David Richwhite, plus the IRD, SFO and Aunt Martha.

Shane Jones got so excited he called for Jane Diplock to be made “Dame Jane”. Umm, sorry Shane, but your party abolished those.

Certainly congratulations are due to Diplock and co for standing up for small investors and winning $20 million for them in a negotiated settlement.

I would be careful though about comparing Fay and Richwhite to Donna Awatere-Huata and saying it makes her look like an angel. At the end of the day Awatere-Huata was found guilty of criminal fraud. In this case the Securities Commission did decide to settle rather than prosecute. Now that may certainly have been the best path to take, but it does mean no-one was convicted of illegal behaviour.

Unethical behaviour is another matter. The Winebox at the end of the day didn’t disclose a single illegal act. But what it did expose was a damn unethical rorting of the tax system, where basically the Cook Islands supplied false tax certificates for a fee, allowing tax to be avoided in NZ.