What you have to believe in to believe Peters did not know

Brian Henry and Winston Peters have said that until yesterday Winston Peters did not know Owen Glenn donated $100,000 to pay Winston’s legal bills. Now this is impossible to disprove unless someone leaks some more e-mails.

But we can look at how credible this is, so people can make a judgement. For politics is about credibility.

Now if one is to believe that Peters did not know of the donation from Glenn until Friday, you have to believe all of the following. Note – not just one of the following- but all of it:

1. Owen Glenn found out about the “Legal Expenses Fund” from someone other than Winston Peters.
2. Glenn found this out despite almost no one who actually lives in New Zealand knowing about it.
3. Glenn chose on his own whim to donate to the Legal Expenses Fund rather than NZ First.
4. Glenn never ever mentioned to Winston Peters he had donated or intended to donate to his legal expenses fund. Glenn is of course known as the soul of discretion.
5. Glenn managed to get contact details for Brian Henry from someone who is not Winston Peters.
6. The fund which has been running since 1991 has raised a total of $200,000 of which the $100,000 donation constitutes half in one swoop, and he never asked nor suspected who the donor was.
7. When the media reported Owen Glenn in February 2008 as having donated to another party, Brian Henry never clicked that he was referring to the $100,000 Glenn gave Henry for Peters’ legal fees.
8. Winston Peters never thought to check if the large $100,000 donation his lawyer had received could be the donation being referred to by Owen Glenn in February.
9. Brian Henry let Winston go into a press conference and deny that NZ First had received any money at all from Owen Glenn – not even a dollar, and did not feel he had an ethical, moral or professional duty to tell him of the personal donation to Peters’ legal expenses
10. That Brian Henry was aware the Winston Peters was considering appointing Owen Glenn as Consul to Monaco, and did not think the fact Glenn had donated $100,000 to Peters’ legal expenses was something that should be disclosed.
11. After the NZ Herald on 12 July printed the e-mail from Owen Glenn, Brian Henry still said nothing to Peters despite it being glaringly obvious what he was referring to.
12. There was some legitimate reason Winston Peters did not do the obvious when the e-mail was printed and contact Owen Glenn to ask him if the e-mail was real, and what the hell he was on about?
13. That Winston Peters never wondered why Steve Fisher was so desperate to make sure Owen Glenn did not contradict what Peters said?
14. Even after Brian Henry saw Winston denying everything, claiming the e-mail is fabricated and calling Audrey Young a liar, he still didn’t think he needed to urgently inform Winston that the e-mail was correct (from Glenn’s perspective)
15. That during all this time, Winston Peters never wondered if the mystery $100,000 donation for his legal fees could be from Owen Glenn, and that it all came as a total surprise.
16. It took Brian Henry seven days to manage to talk to his close personal friend and long standing client, to let him know that he had information which verified the e-mail in the Herald.

Now if you do believe all of the above, I’d like to take you to San Francisco where I have some real estate to sell you.