John Key MP
National Party Finance Spokesman

07 July 2005

Did Labour look the other way on Transpower deal?

National Party Finance spokesman John Key says there is mounting evidence that Labour Finance Minister Michael Cullen agreed to look the other way on a controversial Transpower tax deal.

“According to reports today, Dr Cullen appears to have accepted the advice of Treasury in that it would have been unwise to ask too many questions of the SOE in relation to its tax dealings through the Cayman Islands.

“It has been revealed that New Zealand officials knew these sorts of deals were about to be outlawed in the US, but the Government-owned energy company went ahead with it regardless.

“Dr Cullen rubbished me for raising this issue, and now he has written to all SOEs in what appears to be a blatant contradiction of his earlier public statements. That hardly inspires confidence!

“This is becoming increasingly murky. The Finance Minister should tell us whether he would support New Zealand investors avoiding tax in the same way,” says Mr Key.

Ends

© Scoop Media