Darnton vs Clark

Global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, publisher of the internationally regarded Corruption Perceptions Index, has warned Labour that New Zealand’s low corruption reputation is at risk if it doesn’t pay back the pledge card money and passes retrospective legislation to cover its wrongdoing. (Reported in today’s Dominion Post.)

Labour risks harming New Zealand’s reputation if it refuses to repay taxpayer funds unlawfully spent on campaigning and changes the law to make it legal, an anti-corruption watchdog has warned.

They say they’re also concerned about the anonymisation of donations through trusts.

New Zealand ranks second on the 2005 corruption index, equal with Finland and with only Iceland less corrupt than this country. A ranking like this is something to be proud of and it’s something that needs to be actively protected. It is at risk from Labour’s pillaging of the public purse to prop up its power.

[Executive Officer] Mr Cave said Transparency International directors in this country – which include former ombudsman Mel Smith and former auditor-general David Macdonald – had grave concerns at Labour’s stance.

“Any retrospective changing of the law to legitimise something that was previously illegal we would criticise in the strongest possible terms.”

So, to the list of people (too long to repeat here) who think that the Labour Party are a pack of dodgy buggers who need to be reigned in, you can add the world’s premier anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International. As Transparency International says, “Corruption ruins lives. Fight back.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 13th, 2006 at 8:13 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.