I wish to comment briefly on “The Last of the Pooh-Bahs”, by Thomas Tarurongo Wynne, 18 November 2023, although I do not wish to relitigate the “fly-in voters” case.

I should disclose that, as a young lecturer at the Law School (University of Auckland), in 1978, I gave some assistance to Paul Temm, QC, who had been instructed by the Democratic Party. 

Unfortunately, Wynne’s note, which seems to be an ad hominem attack on the sitting judge, completely omits any reference to the most salient fact of the litigation. That fact, which was not contested at any of the trials, was the transfer of $337,000 by and from the Philatelic Bureau on the instruction of the then Premier to a newly incorporated body, the Cook Islands Government New Projects Company (CIGNPC).  The purposes of that company were said to be “to attract outside capital for the development of projects within the Cook Islands”.  There is no doubt that the Public Moneys Act 1969 (CI) applied to those moneys. The Premier then obtained a cheque from the CIGNPC, made out to himself for $335,000 and deposited that cheque into an account in his own name with the Bank of New South Wales, Auckland Branch. Another new corporation was formed, the Ipukarea Development Company, and the then Premier transferred the money from the account at BNSW to a newly created Ipukarea account at ANZ, Auckland Branch. A cheque was then written to Ansett Airlines from the Ipukarea account, for $323,639,90, as payment in full for six charter flights, Auckland-Rarotonga. 

To quote from a contemporary (1978) law journal article, “The money from the Philatelic Bureau had been laundered and doubly rinsed.” 

The defence, at the trial, accepted that CIGNPC and Ipukarea were shams, but said that the subterfuge was all designed to protect a third party, a proprietor of the Philatelic Bureau. There was no evidence for that contention and it was rejected summarily. 

I will not go into the election bribery question here, but there is no doubt that the misappropriation of hundreds of thousands of dollars of public moneys was a significant stand-alone crime. 

Regards,

William C Hodge

Law Faculty, University of Auckland (retired)