Wood lied to media over his shareholding

Jonathan Milne at Newsroom writes:

What pecuniary interests, I asked the minister, did he have beyond those disclosed in the 2021 register of interests?

“None,” Michael Wood replied, unequivocally.

That was July 5, two years ago. I’d approached him for an explanation, after registrar Sir Maarten Wevers formally rapped him over the knuckles for filing his returns late. …

And now Hipkins has learned that Wood expressly denied having any undisclosed pecuniary interests, in an emailed statement to Newsroom.

National MP Paul Goldsmith says his email to Newsroom came at a time that the Cabinet Office had already contacted Wood five times about whether he had sold his shares in Auckland Airport, part of its lengthy and unsuccessful attempt to get him to follow the rules.

He calls Wood’s response to Newsroom “demonstrably false”.

“He knew he owned the shares, and he knew they represented a conflict of interest. His answer rested on the fig leaf that he thought because the shares were held in a trust they didn’t have to be declared.”

Surely this is enough to get him sacked?