Helen Clarke’s nomination for a job she has worked her entire political career for is as predictable as Key’s mute response to tax havens and far less important.
Don’t get me wrong, I would be thrilled if Helen became the next head of the UN, but her final formal candidacy is as unsurprising as Paul Henry sexually teasing a female co-worker live on air.
Key’s response to being a tax haven is simply astounding – he says his responsibility is that kiwis pay tax -not foreigners using NZ to hide tax. It’s perplexing that our Prime Minister’s response to the largest ever leak of tax avoiders and criminal organisations is a mere shrug.
National’s current spin is that it was a Labour Party law from 1988 so it’s not his problem and he hasn’t built a tax haven.
Nonsense.
Key ignored warnings in 2010 and 2013 that our Trusts were a concern. He’s done nothing to remedy that. He has built a tax haven by simply allowing a leaky law he had been warned about to stand.
The question is has Key himself benefitted from this? The Icelandic PM has been caught out having a trust in the very banks he was supposed to be legislating against. Does John Key have a conflict of interest in keeping trust law murky because he has two ‘blind’ trusts?
Here’s where the issue gets interesting. Speaking with sources inside the Labour Party, Helen Clarke while still as Prim Minister, called together a senior group of Labour Party MPs to put together a dossier on Key. She wanted to know who Key was and how this unassuming currency shark who made his money betting against the NZ currency had suddenly appeared on the political stage.
The rumour then was that Key was actually worth $200million. The group around Key had conducted opinion poll research asking how much was too much for an individual to have before the amount of money made the candidate seem untrustworthy. The options were $50 million, $100 million, $150 million and $200 million. People overwhelmingly selected $50million. After this Key appears as a candidate with a wealth estimated at $50million.
If Key has used these mechanisms to hide his own wealth, they will be buried somewhere within those Panama Papers.
Key has known about it and failed to do anything about it. That makes him guilty by association. This is not the kind of person we need leading NZ. Perhaps I would feel different about it if the govt hadn’t gone out of their way to attack poor people (like changing laws just to diddle beneficiaries out of one day’s owed money! $33!)
NO MORE SPECIAL PRIVILEGES FOR RICH PEOPLE!
+1 Slumbergod. Robbing from the poor to pay for the super rich!
I have no doubt that Key is worth a lot more than $50 mil since he became PM – all those dodgy deals and asset sales!
Exactly. I have doubted the 50 millon figure all along but even more after 9 years. If he was worth 50 million when he started in politics and is still worth 50 million he has done a piss poor job of investing his money
Couldn’t agree more. $50 million is obscene but Nationals now infamous focus grouping makes it all the more likely that the real amount was too much for the average Kiwi in the street. That information surfaced a few years back.
I would love to know through his wheeling dealing and networking as the PM of a once respectable uncorrupted country how much his net worth has gone up now? For a guy whose every breath has been about enriching himself as fast as he could, pulling over and letting the money world pass you by would be not only unthinkable but against his very base DNA.
Not to mention all that insider trading.
John Key may easily have money stashed away, out of the prying eyes of the IRD or Kiwis in general, in some blind trust on the Caymans or Bermuda, but of course it won’t be in New Zealand. And, although it might not be moral, it won’t be illegal. The point is that these people already have the system by the short and curlies: they don’t need to break any law that can be calibrated at will to suit their requirements.
An example of this is the recent law modification on insider trading and price collusion. Unlike in the rest of the Western World, here it isn’t an offense punishable by jail time. No, here, if discovered, it is subject only to a fine. In other words, the customers, socked by fixed prices now also have to also pay any penalties that might be imposed. Some deterrent!
John Key, as water carrier for the internationalist corporate take-over we call the neo-liberal revolution, has a clear path. If he can get away with it, he will leave the law as it is. If the heat gets too great, he might choose to modify the law leaving a few loopholes. failing that, he will try to stall as long as possible in the hope that the media will notice a squirrel somewhere else. His plans require that we remain a slightly shady, but legal under local rules, tax haven
I think we can still allow that Key imagines that what he is doing is good for New Zealand. His dream of New Zealand becoming the Switzerland of the South: the playground of the wealthy as they frolic near their wealth, must seem attractive to both himself and possibly Max (as the family frolicker-in-chief). But the dream comes a bit into the category of “what is good for General Motors is good for America”. Worse, the myopic corporate attitudes he has brought along with him from Wall Street are showing signs of corrupting the heart of his constituency.
It is possible that we may not recover in the near future from the damage he is inflicting on our international reputation and I believe we all may live to regret this over time.
Helen may regret it a little sooner.
+1 Nick.
If our own Prime Minister is using offshore tax havens to avoid paying tax in New Zealand he is without question morally bankrupt . We need to keep on this one.
soon heard about panama document i though fjk would be in there it is in his nature
if it does come out then we’ve got to be prepared hit streets like Iceland and nail the grubby filthy bastard to the wall along with his cronies and government
So how do we get our hands on a copy of that dossier then?
When I first heard that FJK’s wealth is worth only $50m, at the time I thought it didn’t seem enough, considering his reputation as a “successful” currency trader.
Now we know he’s more than likely to be worth more, lots more than first indicated. Bet the undisclosed millions are stashed away in some grubby tax avoidance trust scheme!
Anyone watching Parliament today will realize, after listening to FJK, that this whole dirty issue is all Labour’s fault! Goes to prove when anyone is lying or having been caught out in deceit, they deny and pass blame from themselves to someone/something else!
Apparently those who are favoured by the Khazarian Mafia have a degree of protection as not all information has been made available:
http://geopolitics.co/2016/04/05/panama-papers-the-anomalies/
mr key as we all know is a wheeler dealer from way-back so his job to hide billions of dollars of other peoples money taught him a lot about hiding his own but then to create a tax haven for his rich mates to do the same at New Zealand taxpayers expense makes the man morally deficient but to deny it all probably makes him criminally responsible for thousands of New Zealanders depressed life styles do we want this man to lead our nation hand in hand with other deviant leaders
come on new zealanders make a break make a difference vote for change
Turkeys never vote for Xmas. Expect inertia on this.
Revenenue Minister Michael Woodhouse said pretty much that when he ducked any and all responsibility for NZ being a tax-haven. His comments were simply apalling;
https://www.national.org.nz/news/news/media-releases/detail/2016/04/04/NZ-tax-rules-strong
This will be really freaking jonky out. More than any other thing his oily little self has been exposed to.
There’s a great B&W shot of pig muldoon just arriving back from Switzerland from years ago. There was no internet then. Little piggies could get away with all kinds of clever plays back then. But not now. Their houses are on fire. Burn, motherfuckers burn!
No wonder all these government figures are so scared of hackers. All their dirty secrets able to be disclosed.
Not to mention the whistleblowing legislation that makes the whistleblowing a crime so dirty deeds can’t be uncovered for public good.
Totally agree, this is the closest thing to scaring JK. Money is everything to him.
$50 million or $200 million… however much it is, it was made (not earned, note) through gambling (not trading, note), and good luck (not hard work – the phrase JK often likes to use as in ‘hard-working taxpayers’) as a money-changer.
As JK will tell you nothing is without cost and the cost of his millions has been made at great expense of those right down the line. Almost certainly at the expense of the poor and deprived and disenfranchised – in NZ and moreso in developing countries.
Currency trading is a dark and heartless way to make money. Not something to be proud of at all so no wonder JK is desperately trying all sorts of means to find a legacy that distances him from his money-changer moniker.
One thing you can guarantee: Key has personally profited from this murky dodgy state of affairs. It is extremely misleading for Key to excuse National from any blame by saying that it was Labour who set up the law in that way. It was the 4th Rogernome Labour government who as everyone knows were only Labour in name and in action were more right than National. Also records show that National voted for the bill, so for Key to do the political equivalent of claim diplomatic privilege on this is typically fraudulent and misleading.
National wants all New Zealanders to pay their fair share of tax all right, except that National doesn’t tell you that they think their own fair share is f… all!
Ladies and gentleman of middle New Zealand, you pay to keep the foreign tax dodgers happy,
Do you think that is fair? If so, just close your brain and vote National like Andrew and Gosman or start using your brain and vote the wankers out.
How does New Zealanders pay anything in relation to foreign owned trusts in NZ?
Gosman – Why do you ask inane questions when (a) you probably already know the answer or (b) you’re not remotely interested in the answer? And do you mind if I respond to your question with my question?
I would have just said piss off back to school goose and get a clue
My question is entirely valid as these are not New Zealand taxpayers using the trusts so we don’t lose anything.
cmon, if a nz’er has money to hide, invest o’seas, create a company in panama/BVI etc, bring it back as a foreign owned Trust… too easy
Gosman, what price our country’s reputation?(Seeing as how you like to start with rhetoircal questions.)
If money is all you’re concerned about, then notions of morality, reputation, and paying your fair share of tax probably flies right over your head.
So yes, we do lose out in ways that are beyond your understanding of human interaction.
Elaine you are correct 100%.
Key is a monster.
Only eclipsed by Comrade Joyce this man is Key’s campaign manager for the election and his evil number two.
Joyce is very dangerous as Goebbels was with his equally toxic propaganda.
The Labour NZ First, & Greens opposition must join together to mount a court injunction to seize to take control of half of our public broadcasting facilities back from the toxic MP Joyce, the master propagandist and begin to educate NZ voters again how they will turn NZ around and support all provinces to provide a safe healthy prosperous community on which they will give an inclusive Government that is open caring warm and devoid
hang the fuckers all the misery and poverty is because fuckers like key dont pay there fare share
What law would the opposition cite to gain control of 50 percent of public broadcasting assets?
Gosman – What law would the opposition *need* to gain control of 50 percent of public broadcasting assets? And do you mind if I respond to your question with my question?
I’m asking the question because the commentator thinks the opposition should go to court to gain control of 50 percent of public broadcasting assets. I know of no law that would allow this hence why I asked.
No Gosman, if it’s public broadcasting, we already OWN and CONTROL it. Ownership rights – you DO understand ownership rights, don’t you?
Touche’ Priss !!
“Has Key himself benefited from this”? YES, most definitely and he still does.
Remember Peter Dunne was defending John key’s “legitimate tax avoidance” back in 2012.
John key should resign.
JK thinks his shit don’t stink but then again Cam Slater thinks he’s handsome and Audrey Young thinks she’s a neutral journalist.
Spot on Bert !!
what will they do to take the heat off jonkey nactional?
…trash KiwiBank ?…with Cullen’s help?
Yep. Nothing like having gullible ‘friends’ to help keep the heat away with another headline about Kiwibank and even better prep it up for sale in 5 years and make Labour look bad by association. Win win for Key.
The question on everyone’s lips; how long before a National minister is implicated in the Panama Papers???
No wonder Key and his cronies are doing everything they can to squash suggestions that NZ is party to being a tax haven.
When you have to resort to using offensive 4 letter words in your banter to gain attention, you have already lost.
‘I would be thrilled if Helen became the next head of the UN’ ?????
The UN is as rotten as everything else in the modern word, and doesn’t even comply with its own charter.
Surely you don’t think Helen Clark will investigate the corruption and lies that now characterise the UN, just as they characterise practically every government in the world.
Just another snout in another trough.
As for Key: nothing surprises. Criminals do what criminals do.
Given his history , the probability of Key benefiting from such tax schemes is high. He is a bird of the same feather after all. He has a slightly nervous look at times when being interviewed on the matter – that slightly guilty look. And since Key, along with his fellow National party crooks have proven themselves time and time again as being no more than Robin Hoods in reverse through their general policies and conduct over the last 8 years, they simply wouldn’t resist such temptations to stuff their pockets through the use of such dubious tax activities.
According to the last NBR rich list Keys fortune was up $5 million to $55 million if you believe the NBR
We can speculate but i am sure that he would have profited from the rebuild in CH CH and from the sell down of our assets some years ago and many off shore investments ,the fact its all in trusts means we will never know
The fact that he can grow his wealth the way he does and manipulate policy around that should mean he is unsuitable to be in a position where he can and others manipulate our laws in their favour says a lot about his selection as party leader
Bill English has already been caught out stealing with his entitlements
They are incorrigible and imagine for one minute all the things they have done or are doing that havent been LEAKED
Okay, Let’s publicly strip jonkey of all his assets, (& put it into the areas he skimped on), then do him for treason . . . he can serve his time in a Serco-run prison. Wait-that’s too good for him.
What’s that noise? Oh damn, my alarm’s going off. Time to stop dreaming and get up . . . always in the middle of a good dream too . . .
it wouldn’t surprise me if the nats are in donkey deep born to rule don’t like paying taxes remember it was nats that did everything to shut the wine box down there in it all right
See the map of Global “Safe havens”
IN THE LINK BELOW NZ is on that map folks no matter what Key says he is implicated in this scam to so its time Opposition parties, media and Governor General Jerry Mateparae got off their respective butts and impeached him finally.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-03/unprecedented-leak-exposes-criminal-financial-dealings-some-worlds-wealthiest-people
See more at: https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/04/05/nzs-role-in-tax-avoidance-shameful-says-academic-massey-university/#sthash.phTyDeI6.dpuf
Let’s hope through his involvement in ICIJ, Nicky Hager is able to source and put together some damning information against FJK next year from the leaked Panama documents, in time for the election.
Considering NZ is mentioned at least 60,000 times in the papers, there has to be something there to crucify FJK and Nicky is the man to set FJK alight!
John Key’s blind trusts are not so blind; he has access to them whenever he wants. John Key likes handing out bottles of his own wine, particularly when he is feigning an apology for wrong doing. Remember it was reported that he mentioned his Vineyard at a soiree, that he had previously said he didn’t know about in his blind trust.
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