Leasing out the power grid

The Government leased out the entire South Island power grid to secret US investors, who then leased it back through the tax haven of the Cayman Islands.

This netted a cool $35 million which would, in a private business, have your shareholders very pleased with you.

However I suspect many are not comfortable with leasing out the entire South Island power grid in a tax dodge deal. If nothing else, it undermines the efforts of the NZ IRD to stamp out on deals under S99 which have no commercial basis except to avoid tax.

UPDATE: Rodney sums it up by saying “So let me get this right. It