Kiwiblog

The HoS returns again to the Vegas side-trip Winston Peters took last year, in breach of the Cabinet Manual.

Peters insists he met the cost of his airfares and accommodation in Las Vegas and later reimbursed “an acquaintance” who had supplied him with the boxing tickets.

Is that like how he reimbursed Brian Henry for the $40,000 costs to Bob Clarkson? In that case Peters claimed he had reimbursed someone and it turned out he hadn’t.

The latest news on Winston’s trip to Las Vegas confirms that Helen Clark is operating two sets of standards – one for Winston, and for other Ministers. Winston could rob a bank in broad daylight, and Helen would happily keep him on.

Let us go to the Cabinet Manual, section 2.113:

Subject to parliamentary or portfolio requirements, and with the prior approval of the Prime Minister, Ministers may occasionally extend overseas visits outside the formal itinerary for personal reasons, provided no additional costs are incurred by the government as a result.

Now it is as clear as it can be, that Winston Peters was required to get Helen Clark’s permission for the sidetrip to Las Vegas. Clark says she only learnt of it two weeks ago. Now by itself this isn’t a hanging offence, but what it illustrates is how Clark operates a totally different set of standards with Peters. Peters knows Clark won’t touch him, so he doesn’t bother with minor stuff like accountability or rules.

There is also some confusion about whether or not Clark did know more than two weeks ago. Whale Oil alleges that the unapproved side trip was discussed at the MFAT Divisional Officers’ Meeting which includes PM’s foreign afairs advisor from DPMC. So if Clark did not know, then her Department did.

Matthew Hooton also reports that George Calvert has denied paying for the sidetrip to Vegas. Now the lanugage used here (and one has to be suspicious when it involves Winston and friends) suggests the denial only applies to the airfares – not necessarily the accomodation and match tickets. Because if someone other than Peters did pay for them, and the cost was over NZ$500, then Peters has breached (again) the Register of MPs Pecuninary Interests and the Cabinet Manual (again).

Queen Bee asserts that the taxpayer originally paid for the flights and the accommodation. which is what caused all the fuss in MFAT. The money was repaid, but it is not known when – was it after questions were asked?

The best case scenario is that Peters has broken the Cabinet Manual, and Clark has demonstrated she has will not enforce any rules on Peters, so long as he votes for her. The worst case scenario is that the taxpayer paid for personal travel, it was only refunded when found out, and also gifts in excess of $500 were not declared. It is important to stress that there is no public proof of the worst case scenario at this point in time. Only the best case scenario has been proven. The worst case scenario can be proven false in just five minutes with the appropriate receipts.

Matthew Hooton blogs some useful info on the Peters trip to Las Vegas:

The Foreign Minister has confirmed that he made the “sidetrip” when he was in Berlin entroute to Singapore, so some “sidetrip” it must have been.

You can fly from Berlin to Singapore, via Frankfurt, on Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines for the discounted Business Class fare of around NZ$7730.50.  (I don’t know why on earth the HoS would assume, as it did, that Peters would fly economy – he was meant to be working on this trip, remember.)  It is quite an efficient way of getting from Berlin to Singapore, taking a total of around 14 hours.

In contrast, getting even from Berlin to Las Vegas is considerably more arduous, taking at least 16 hours, and requiring at least two stops.  Getting from Las Vegas to Singapore can also be difficult, taking almost 24 hours on United Airlines.  Book Business Class Berlin/Las Vegas/Singapore on United Airlines and it will set you back around $15,500.

To be square with the taxpayer, it seems the Foreign Minister would have had to pay about $8,000 for the tickets alone (and god knows what sort of condition he would have arrived in, in Singapore, after flying halfway around the world and stopping over in Las Vegas for a fight, but he is known for his resilience.)

That is a very expensive diversion indeed.

The average ticket price for the fight was said to be over US$1,300.  So the total cost of the Foreign Minister’s “sidetrip”, paid by him personally, would have been over NZ$10,000.

I hope he enjoyed himself for that amount.  He must be a big boxing fan.

A huge fan.

We must take the Foreign Minister at his word that he personally paid this ten grand.  It would put the whole matter to rest to see the receipts.  And also the dates on them.

Yep that is all that is needed. Just as all Brian Henry needs to do is produce a phone log showing his multiple calls to Owen Glenn.

And it would be also interesting to know if the Prime Minister approved the sidetrip and knew how it was to be financed.  From my memory working for the Trade Minister in the 1990s, prime ministers have to approve all ministerial travel, including sidetrips.  This remains part of the Cabinet Office Manual:

“2.113 Subject to parliamentary or portfolio requirements, and with the prior approval of the Prime Minister, Ministers may occasionally extend overseas visits outside the formal itinerary for personal reasons, provided no additional costs are incurred by the government as a result.

“2.114 Ministers may make personal visits overseas if they obtain the Prime Minister’s prior approval, which will be subject to obtaining leave to be absent from the House. Ministers must also obtain the agreement of another Minister or Ministers to act during such periods of absence. (See paragraphs 2.39 – 2.42.) The Cabinet Office should be advised of any such arrangements.”

Well maybe Helen can clear this all up for us. She would have approved it. As Matthew says this may all be a load of nonsense. So best to expose it for the nonsense it is as soon as possible.

The Herald on Sunday reports on questions around a trip to Las Vegas by our Foreign Minister.

Act leader Rodney Hide has raised what he says are “serious questions” over the trip in May last year, claiming several “very credible” sources had told him that Peters’ airfares, accommodation and tickets to the Oscar de la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather fight were paid for by wealthy businessman George Calvert.

But Peters said yesterday that Hide’s claims were a “pile of crap” and challenged him to put up, or shut up. Peters had been in Europe on official Foreign Affairs business at the time and made a private trip from Berlin to Las Vegas to attend the title fight before heading on to Singapore.

Peters says he paid for his airfares and accommodation in Las Vegas and later reimbursed “an acquaintance” who had supplied him with the boxing tickets.

A one-way flight from Berlin to Las Vegas costs about $3500 and fight tickets can vary from anything between $100 and $2500. Laws state MPs should declare all gifts and donations over the value of $500.

Peters can clear all this up by showing receipts for the flights and details of the claimed reimbursement for the boxing tickets.

I don’t know anything about these allegations first hand, but what I have heard suggests the reimbursements only occurred a year later once questions were asked. There has also been some suggestion that the airfares may not have been directly paid for by the Minister and again only reimbursed a year or so later. But this may be quite wrong. This is why this can all be solved by showing receipts for the reimbursements.

If the reimbursements did occur after 31 January 2008, then the 2007 Register of Pecuniary Interests may be incorrect.

I am sure the Prime Minister is concerned about ensuring the Cabinet Manual has been complied with, and will ask someone to verify everything is in order.

Roarprawn keeps mentioning Las Vegas a lot. Not quite sure why. Hopefully we will find out at some stage.