Rt Hon Sir William Birch
Minister of Finance and Minister of Revenue

20 August, 1999
For Immediate Release

No Positive Result for $12m Spent on Wine Box - Birch

Revenue Minister Sir William Birch tonight said that more than $12m had been spent to date investigating Winston Peters' allegations about IRD and the Serious Fraud Office, and not a single one of them had so far been proved.
"After all that vast cost to the taxpayer, the High Court does not find there was fraud in the Magnum affair or incompetence in IRD and the SFO. What it finds is a legal error in the argument the Commission used to reach certain conclusions.
"Mr Peters demanded that the Commissioner of IRD and the Head of the Serious Fraud Office be sacked for incompetence. Today's judgement does not show fraud or find IRD incompetent or justify Mr Peters' allegations.
"In 59 out of 60 cases, the original view of the Commission of Inquiry remains totally intact. Mr Peters caused spending in excess of $12m in pursuit of this matter. He has not successfully proved anything of substance in any of the wine box cases."
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