What a beatup

Lianne Dalziel, in relation to the Tranz Rail Securities Commission case, spoke in Parliament and said:

There were interests out there who did not want these defendants to be pursued; at one point I felt that those interests did not want the defendants to be pursued at any cost. So I want to place on record my congratulations to Jane Diplock and the entire team at the Securities Commission on having the guts and the gumption to take on these very strong, powerful interests in our country.

Then Winston Peters jumped in and presumably invented the claim that some people on the commission had faced threats relating to their employment.

Then Michael Cullen added to the hysteria and said the claims of threats were “very serious” and worthy of further investigation.

So what were there threats and these strong powerful interests?

Well the Securities Commission chairwoman, Jane Diplock, has today told us. Basically there were none.

She in fact pointed out the pressure had been worse in other cases. The only thing Diplock could cite was critical media reports. Hardly the same as threats of retribution from strong and powerful interests.

Jane Diplock deserves our thanks for standing up for the rights of small shareholders and getting a good settlement. It is a pity her own Minister had to invent some sort of secret threatening cabal to try and make the story more juicy. One expects that sort of nonsense from Peters, but not from Dalziel who generally is one of the more sensible Ministers.