When questioned why NZers should trust John Key’s personal Lawyer who helped set up the kind of trusts as exposed by the Panama Papers and which his Lawyer had also used for Key himself, the Prime Minister told NZers we shouldn’t worry about any of that because Key only worked with highly ethical people.
Right.
So after that it turns out Key’s Lawyer contacted the Revenue Minister and used Key’s name to suggest there was no need for a crack down on the Trusts he uses.
That results in an immediate meeting and lo and behold IRD stop their crack down.
Key then comes out and says his Lawyer lied and he didn’t pressure the Revenue Minister.
How highly ethical is all that?
NOW we find out that Key’s Lawyer, Ken Whitney was heavily criticised for setting up sham Trusts…
John Key’s lawyer, Ken Whitney, was criticised by the High Court after creating a sham trust for a bankrupt property developer then failing to disclose it to authorities probing his client’s insolvency.
When asked during cross-examination if he had concerns around setting up structures to allow a bankrupt to continue in business, Mr Whitney told the court: “No, not particularly. It’s a common thing for people to do. It may not be morally as white as it could be but it’s normal practice.”
Mr Whitney’s trust business has come into sharp focus over the past week following revelations he cited conversations with the Prime Minister when fronting lobbying by the foreign trusts industry to stop an embryonic crackdown by Inland Revenue on the sector.
The Herald has approached him for comment on the judgment.
The Prime Minister has previously defended Mr Whitney’s connection with the trust industry saying his personal lawyer’s conduct was “highly ethical”.
…Mr Key is on record to the people of NZ telling them we don’t need to be suspicious of his Lawyer and secret trusts because Mr Key only works with highly ethical people. Mr Whitney admits in court that his actions were “It may not be morally as white as it could be but it’s normal practice.” – is that highly ethical or highly unethical?
We can’t trust Key’s Lawyer, and it’s convenient for Key to.
This entire situation is a farce. Key’s Lawyer has been caught out setting up sham trusts, moving money for the Prime Minister through foreign trusts and muscling the Revenue Minister to not crackdown on those trusts.
Folks, we’ve been calling this corruption from day one – if you are not angry yet, you are part of the problem!
++++Martyn,
The real problem is a toothless media (with no conscience to fight against corruption) and a PM and his propaganda Minister Joyce/Goebbels who laughed in Parliament today claiming that RNZ was sometimes called “RNZ Labour”
His own Government Minister Joyce the master of propaganda ordered it be renamed RNZ National.
A bigger problem is that most Kiwis are self-centered idiots. When an inconvenient truth is exposed by a leftie, they attack that leftie for being a leftie, which automatically invalidates the truth, because everyone knows that politics is dirty and corrupt, and a left-wing Govt would be equally so, therefore better to back the current crowd if they are helping you get rich, regardless of whether the system is unfair to others. That is the what most Kiwis are, and the sad thing is that they see themselves as sophisticated and intelligent for being so ‘onto it’. Only fools really believe in the common good – intelligent people (to their minds) use the common good as a manipulative argument for pushing their own agenda…..
Why would Key use such a questionable lawyer who is no longer a lawyer? Is it because Key stood to benefit from a dodgy hidden trust/s, the kind his lawyer specialised in, to stash some money and or did this relationship benefit people who knew Key?
So many unanswered questions. It brings to mind the dodgyness of those Tranzrail shares of Keys all those years ago.
We’ve had a sort of explanation from Key today about this, it didn’t sound convincing but I’m sure by tomorrow there will be a slightly different version and by Friday something else again and by Monday Farrar will have dreamed something up. Probably nows the time for a distraction.
Mr Key is on record to the people of NZ telling them we don’t need to be suspicious of his Lawyer and secret trusts because Mr Key only works with highly ethical people. Mr Whitney admits in court that his actions were “It may not be morally as white as it could be but it’s normal practice.”
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It seems like another scenario similar in subterfuge surrounded the granting of Kim Dotcom residency in New Zealand.
Recall : The SIS at the time strongly advised not granting Dotcom residency yet within hours the SIS received a message overruling the SIS ‘s advice from the then Minister of Immigration , and effectively paving the way for Kim Dotcom to be corralled in this country and extradited under the auspices of the FBI ( who have no local jurisdiction here ) motivated by a complaint from the Hollywood film industry moguls who drew up the blueprint for the TTPA to be ratified by the American Congress.
Suspicious?…. Highly so.
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And now we have yet another sorry affair in the ongoing saga of the most corrupt and evasive Prime Minister in this country’s history.
Trusts.
And in particular… not only this country being mentioned over 60,000 times in the Panama Papers, …and potentially being a tax haven for criminal cartels , – but also for our own home grown tax dodgers and criminals.
Enter the latest drama to unfold… ‘ Pilate washing his hands’… otherwise known as throwing a close colleague under the bus in modern parlance.
The story to be told for generations and enshrined in legend of the crooked leader and his crooked men… that of the shrewd but lowly lawyer who used the name of the Grand and exalted Leader and then had granted the ear of the dark Minister of Revenues…
Dutifully the Minister of Revenues condescends from his wretched lair travelling many leagues to preside over the lowly but shrewd lawyers assembled men and quickly judges in their favor…
Shouts ring out!!! Jubilance becomes the portion of the lowly but shrewd lawyers assembly at this edict !!!…the dark Minister of Revenues retires to his lair and sends for his underlings and says he has ruled in the lowly but shrewd lawyer and his friends favor that ” THERE WILL BE NO CHANGE !!!”…
And there twas no change…. until…
Parchments were uncovered later that shed a ghastly light on the decision of the dark Minister of Revenues and the shrewd but lowly lawyer , and even the Grand Leader himself in the eyes of his subjects… that shone its unwelcome light on something…. not right yet barely perceptible …something of evil countenance lurking, something insatiable with brooding malevolence… yet out of the gaze of all goodly folk….
Alas !!! cried the Grand Leader… ” I have been undone !!!”… ” Undone I say !!! ”…. ” I will have the head of that wretched shrewd but lowly lawyer at once !!! ”.
And the Grand Leader himself, being also of shrewd nature, declared that he was used by the shrewd lawyer and that the shrewd lawyer had said things the Grand Leader had never said , and that he was never aware of the dark Minister of Revenues edicts or machinations , nor of what was said by the shrewd but lowly lawyer , nor of the dark Minister of Revenues edicts to his minions… those hapless minions who had no choice but to obey…
Verily, ….at least for a time …the Grand Leader did tarry and have his way… and the shrewd but lowly lawyer did become of lesser shadow… as did the dark Minister of Revenues by no longer being counted as among the appointee’s of the Grand Leader….
But gradually… that ghastly light which emanated from the discovered parchments sought its vengeance and the goodly folk have come to suspect evil afoot and that their own Grand Leader was involved…that things were not as they first appeared…
And some good folks say that to this very day,… that within the parchments there tis a clock that ticks… a day of terrible wrath and judgement that the Grand Leader has marked…and waits shivering within the confines of his cold castle walls… for his fate….
Brilliantly summed up WK. Thumbs up 🙂
Just as “ethical” lawyer Ken will have some “delicate” info on his client “honest” John, I’m picking most devious and murky leader also has the same on his lawyer, possibly demanding his silence, or else! Hence “ethical” lawyer Ken’s lack of communication so far!
With these two shysters, it seems it’s a case of like attracts like.
Ha yeah! I snorted on my food when I heard Corruptjohn say he only worked with highly ethical people. My first thought was, ‘yeah, like Cameron Slater and Judith Collins’…
Shams, corruption, slime and sleaze are perfectly normal in FJK’s dark murky disturbed world! So His lawyer’s behaviour and actions here are perfectly “ethical” to him!
THE PRESS CONFERENCE OF TODD MCCLAY [satire]
Members of the press, I wish to clarify my position regarding the previous review of foreign trust laws…
Ring Ring Ring…“What’s that John…OK…got it”
I’m going to say what I remember…
Ring Ring Ring…“OK John…will do”
I’m going to say what I think I remember…
Ring Ring Ring…“OK John…no problemo”
I’m going to say what I’ve been advised to remember to remember, before I forget…
Ring Ring Ring…“No John, I don’t want a diplomatic posting to Upper Volta”
I now wish to clarify that we have complete faith in the actions of the PM’s lawyer…
Ring Ring Ring…“Yup”
I mean ex-lawyer…
Ring Ring Ring…“Right”
I mean the lawyer, who is no longer a practicing lawyer, but is still the PM’s lawyer…
who hasn’t done anything wrong…but stood himself down as a lawyer…as soon as the Panama Papers story broke…
Ring Ring Ring…“Yes…well…the way I understand it…you have a lawyer who is not a lawyer…and NZ is a tax haven, which is not a tax haven…and the IRD work program on reforming foreign trusts hadn’t started, when it was well underway. But let me get this straight…I’m still a trusted minister right…yes…you want to push me where…but I don’t even catch the bus. What do you mean that the secret service knows where I live….gulp…yes I understand that Blofield…I mean John”
Goddammit…does anyone here no how to turn my phone off…and I could sure do with an aspirin, if there’s any handy…
Ring Ring Ring…“Where are you…how come your not helping me out…you’re conducting more trade talks…who with this time…well I am a little confused about various issues…yes I am starting to get stressed…thank you for your concern”
Can you reporters please restrict any further questions to the tax implications for the market price of corn…I’m starting to feel a bit fragile…
Ring Ring Ring…“OK, I’ll announce it to the media, because that fixes everything”
I hereby announce that I’m taking indefinite stress leave, effective from the day before tomorrow…this has all been a strange misunderstanding…my office has booked me into a therapeutic retreat for memory challenged support using a groundbreaking regimen of medicinal sativa…I’m feeling faint…perturbations in the force…clatu…berada… nikto…McClay out!
Bulletproof teflon surrounds The Don Key. He always ensures he has “plausible deniability” and or a patsy to take the fall for him despite his own fingerprints being all over it. He’s as untouchable as a mafia boss.
Why would a highly ethical lawyer remove himself from the register in February?
Something to hide, and something to fear?
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