Attorney-General caught filing false declarations
Attorney-General caught filing false declarations
NEWS
RELEASE FROM INVESTIGATE:
EMBARGOED UNTIL 11:59pm Sunday
March 19 2006
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Attorney-General David Parker could face up to $1.8 million in fines or a five year jail term after filing false statements with the Companies Office during his time as a Labour MP, according to a story in the latest Investigate magazine.
The magazine says it has six documents bearing David Parker’s name, that make a false declaration to the New Zealand Companies Office about the Labour MP’s business affairs. Four of the documents have been submitted since Parker became a Labour MP, the most recent document is dated 2005.
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The documents relate to a company, Queens Park Mews Ltd, of which Parker was an equal one-third shareholder along with his father and a Dunedin businessman, Russell Hyslop.
Under section 196(2)the Companies Act directors are required to file an annual return to the Companies Office each year, and appoint an auditor to the company’s affairs, unless the shareholders have passed a unanimous resolution not to seek an audit.
Such a resolution is required under section 122 to be in writing, signed by all shareholders and held in the company's minutes book.
The director is required to declare to the Companies Office whether a unanimous shareholders’ resolution has been passed, and if so on what date.
Russell Hyslop has told Investigate he and Parker had a falling out over what he alleges was the Labour MP’s refusal to pay him up to half a million dollars he was owed, back in early 1997.
Hyslop
alleges Parker’s refusal to pay up pushed Hyslop into
personal bankruptcy, and he has told Investigate that he has
had no business dealings with Parker since July 1997 and has never been asked to vote on a unanimous
resolution waiving his right to audit the company’s
affairs. But Investigate’s search of the company records
has found a series of documents signed by David Parker
stating that each year the shareholders have passed such a
resolution. Click for big
version Under section 377 The Companies Act 1993 it
is an offence to file false statements to the Companies
Office, punishable under section 373(4) by up to five years
jail or a $200,000 fine per offence. Investigate magazine
alleges between five and nine false statements were
filed. Please click here to hear Russell Hyslop being
interviewed about the "unanimous" resolutions. The
full story, including further irregularities involving David
Parker's business dealings, is contained exclusively in the
print edition of Investigate, out
today. ENDS