Corruption

Labour has finally caved to the mounting pressure on Shane Jones after serious inconsistencies developed in his stories.

On Monday David Shearer ruled out standing down Jones over his involvement in the Bill Liu cash for citizenship case with Larry Williams on Monday night.

He explicitly said says it’s meaningless anyway.

What new information has he received that made him change his mind?

Perhaps it was the information that the herald brought to light on top of the sterling work done by Wishart on the Bill Liu case back in 08/09.

This Herald article from 2009 also makes an interesting observation:

Liu was considered a high-risk gambler by the DIA’s casino monitoring division because of his volatility, high-stakes gambling and history of self-barring, the Herald was told.

A DIA spokesman confirmed that Liu was of interest. “Mr Liu is one of a number of gamblers of significance whom the department has discussed in its interaction with SkyCity”.

Liu’s gambling also attracted the attention of the police. That interest was at times intense and included surveillance, a source told the Herald. “The focus was to see whether evidence of money laundering could be detected.” No charges have been laid.

… so Liu was being watched by the DIA and police for potentially laundering money – as well as his immigration issues – but Jones still approved citizenship.

Has Labour only just googled this stuff?

It is also interesting that apart from claiming that he would be executed he also claimed membership of Falun Gong. There is a little problem with given his propensity for gambling. Falun Gong prohibits gambling so his claim to be a member (which Jones appears to have accepted) seems a bit convenient:

As part of its emphasis on ethical behavior, Falun Gong’s teachings prescribe a strict personal morality for practitioners, which includes abstention from smoking, drugs, gambling, premarital or extramarital sex, and homosexuality.

David Shearer has kicked this to the Auditor-General but their request is for the Auditor-General to look at the process….not the decision. This is farcical.

“I’ve asked for the Auditor-General to look into all the departmental as well as ministerial processes involved in this case.

“Shane has encouraged me to take this action because he has been left in the impossible position of not being able to clear his name. An inquiry will enable him to do so.

“While the inquiry is underway, Shane Jones will stand down from his portfolio responsibilities and from Labour’s Front Bench.

Based on what Labour has asked of the Auditor-General they are simply trying on what Helen Clark did with Philip Field. There really should be a full indepedent inquiry now.

There are many reasons why Shane Jones’ story on Bill Liu doesn’t stack up.

Liu claimed to be involved in ‘formalising’ agreements and good relations between NZ and China.  What agreements? Officials said they could not confirm this was true.  And how does a fugitive who supposedly faces torture and organ harvesting in China find himself helping develop good trade relations?

Of course, citizenship can be revoked if you tell porkies on your application, just like residency (and a fake name certainly qualifies) – extradition/deportation can then follow.

Jones knew this.

Furthermore - this advice to Jones (see the top of Page 7) explicitly rules out the humanitarian clause as a reason to grant citizenship.

“It is therefore considered that Mr Liu is not eligible for the grant of citizenship under the former section 9(1)(d) of the Citizenship Act 1977.”

Jones’ decision last night to parrot the claims made by Dover Samuels, made the whole thing look even more murky.

Time for David Shearer to show some leadership and demand a full independent inquiry into this cash for citizenship scandal.

ᔥ NZ Herald

Emmerson is brilliant…Shane Jones movie viewing pleasures, carpet cleaners and dodgy behaviour…nice.

ᔥ 3 News

Shane Jones says he granted citizenship to Bill Liu because he believed the poor guy was going to be shot and his organ’s harvested.

“I was told the execution of this man… that he would be executed… which is the reason the officials gave for him not wanting to go back to China.”

Mr Jones said declining it would have been like signing a death warrant.

Mr Jones says he was told that Mr Yan would be “jailed, executed and his organs harvested” if he was sent back to China.

“That to me comprised grounds for a humanitarian decision,” Mr Jones says.

Really?

How come Bill Liu was planning to take these Labour MPs to China?

“He said he had a lot of support from members of Parliament … he was going to take them to China,”

Surely if he was going to be shot in China that would be the last place he’d want to visit?

The excuse given by Jones holds as much water as a colander.

ᔥ NZ Herald

The NZ Herald notes that David Shearer is applying an interesting test in his reasoning for not standing down Shane Jones:

Shearer has rejected Key’s claim he is being hypocritical and says he would stand his MP Shane Jones down if Mr Jones was under police investigation.

Interesting…using that test…why isn’t Charles Chauvel now warming the naughty chair, or Megan Woods? they are currently being investigated by Police.

Of course the Shane Jones case is much worse than the other two, and certainly worse than the manufactured allegations against John Banks who was a private citizen at the time.

Shane Jones in contrast was a minister, making a decision that benefited materially a donor to the Labour party and to several MPs.

ᔥ Kiwiblog

David Farrar raises some very good questions for Shane Jones to answer…if he can:

1. Who was this official who told him this? It wasn’t by some chance Daniel Phillips was it, the brother of Shane Te Pou – the Labour fundraiser who got paid $5,000 to help get Liu citizenship
2. Does having citizenship in any way impact whether or not one can be extradited to China over the fraud charges laid against him?
3. If one truly believes you face execution and persecution in your home country, don’t you apply for asylum not citizenship?
4. But if one applied for asylum, wouldn’t that actually require some substantiation of the claims that he was Falun Gong and fearing for his life, with adjudication by an independent tribunal, rather than Ministerial discretion as with citizenship?
5. Has Jones or Liu or anyone at all ever produced a shred of evidence that he actually faced anything in China except a fraud trial?
6. Does anyone seriously think Liu would have been granted citizenship if he had not donated to various Labour MPs, who advocated so strongly on his behalf?
7. Is anyone else curious about why Liu paid Labour Party fundraiser Shane Te Pou $5,000 to fill in a citizenship form for him? That’s a lot of money for filling in a form.
8. Is the more likely explanation that he paid Te Pou the $5,000, so Te Pou could use his political influence to get him citizenship.
9. Is it a coincidence that Te Pou immediately introduced him to then Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker
10. Is it also a coincidence that a donation to Dover Samuels election campaign was made from an unknown Chinese entity using the address of Daniel Philips, who is Shane Te Pou’s brother and worked for Shane Jones

I agree with David, and since Shane Jones also welcomes and inquiry, let’s be having one then.

It is hugely ironic that Labour is making leadership an issue in the lead up to the budget on Thursday.

I say ironic because Labour appears bereft of leadership.

With the Bill Liu/Shane Jones cash for citizenship affair making its way through court and the political beltway it can;t have been a surprise to labour that this was going to cause problems.

Phil Goff certainly has known about it for all the time he was a minister, and leader of the opposition. He would have been hoping and praying it didn;t come to court while he was leader.

Shane Jones has certainly known about it, he was even called to give evidence on Monday. So it is somewhat bemusing to watch Labour, Shearer and Jones claim that they know nothing except what Shane Jones has told us and he has told us he can’t remember much as it was 4 years ago.

Let’s hope he was more forthcoming with evidence in the court room than he has been so far with the general public.

Given that this case can have been no surprise to labour, after all it involves Shane Jones and David Cunliffe but also other Labour names including their fundraisers, you have to wonder why David Shearer has been caught flat-footed and stumble mouthed over the whole issue.

It just shows how politically out of touch Labour’s leadership has been for some time.

Bryce Edwards though sums up Shearer’s dilemma he created for himself:

Quickly accumulating unwanted baggage is a reality for most travellers. On his journey towards the Beehive’s 9th floor David Shearer, the “non-politician” elected with no political baggage, is quickly getting weighed down.

Shearer’s office, along with Government politicians, are no doubt poring over the Labour Leader’s previous statements about political corruption in light of the daily revelations about Shane Jones’ involvement with William Yan (aka Bill Liu), currently on trial in Auckland. Revelations in court yesterday show the link goes further than just Jones, as Shane Phillips (also known as Shane Te Pou), a professional Labour Party fundraiser, had close links with Mr Yan, taking Yan on a trip to Hawke’s Bay which included a visit with then Labour Internal Affairs minister Rick Barker. His brother also worked in Shane Jones’ office.

David Shearer unwisely tied his leadership to a now meaningless statement about avoiding “gotcha” politics. No sooner had he uttered those fateful words, he was jumping in boots and all playing “gotcha” politics like a pro. That lack of political nous and leadership displayed right there will see David Shearer forever marginlised and mumble-mouthed when it comes to ethics. But if you are going to call others to account then you must also hold your own to account.

David Shearer has painted himself into a corner and bizarrely he chose the paint and the brush. He must live with that and start to show some of the reputed leadership skills he was supposed to bring to the job.

If he fails in this most basic of tasks, then he is dog tucker and labour crisi of leadership will continue.

Larry Williams editorialises tonight on Shane Jones at the start of his show tonight:

ᔥ Kiwiblog

David Farrar has come up with a good idea. I think it has much merit and David Shearer should really look at this as a way to extricate himself from the ditch he has dug so far.

We definitely need a full inquiry into this. The problem is that if the National Government establishes an inquiry into the actions of a Labour Minister, it looks hopelessly partisan no matter how credible a person is appointed.

But if David Shearer was to come out and agree to an independent inquiry, and agree on the terms of reference with the Prime Minister – then that would be a great sign of bipartisanship – and would allow the true facts to be established.

The whole case is very murky. The person who helped Liu apply for citizenship was a fundraiser for the Labour Party. His brother worked for Shane Jones. Liu had donated to at least three MPs (two Labour, one National) and may held fundraisers at his restaurant which may have raised tens of thousands of dollars. And not only was the citizenship granted despite the official advice, a Labour MP arranged a special citizenship ceremony in the Maori Affairs Select Committee Room at Parliament just a few days later.

Labour and their MPs continue to be the nasty Party.

Fuming after the very close connection with Bill Liu was exposed by Government officials, Shane Jones appears ready to execute the time honoured Labour Party tradition of attacking public servants.

On RadioLive this morning ‘slow hand’ Shane threatened officials who brought the case into the sunlight.