Horomia fails to answer question - again!

The National Party's accusing Parekura Horomia of dodging still more questions in connection with agreements made by the troubled Maori Television Service.

"In Parliament Parekura Horomia is standing by an earlier answer that MTS had not selected the Carbine Group's broadcast solution," says National Party Broadcasting spokeswoman Katherine Rich. "But that doesn't explain why there's a letter from the MTS board telling Carbine their 'broadcast solution' had been accepted.

"The Carbine Group had been given clear undertakings by the MTS Board (see letter attached).

"The Minister is now obliged to explain why he says there was no selection and no deal being negotiated, when this letter clearly shows promises had been made," says Mrs Rich.

"On May 06, 2003 I asked the Minister of Maori Affairs about the Carbine Group contract, and he told me Carbine Group had not been selected (see question attached).

"Now we discover that the MTS Chief Executive wrote to Carbine on April 02 saying 'I am pleased to advise that the Board of Directors of Maori Television Service have accepted Carbine's broadcast solution. Thus it is our intent to proceed to the next level of negotiations for premises and equipment.'

"If that's not an undertaking from the MTS board then it's hard to imagine what constitutes a promise in this Government's eyes.

"Parekura Horomia has never been able to adequately answer questions about MTS and Te Mangai Paho - assurances of a review now are too little and they've come far too late," Mrs Rich says.

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