October 10, 2012
Overseas owners snapping up land


New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the focus on the Crafar farms deal means people are missing how much other land is going to foreigners.
Shanghai Pengxin is still waiting to buy the 16 central North Island dairy farms, after two Ngati Rereahu land trusts challenging the Overseas Investment Office's recommendation to allow the sale.
Mr Peters says it's not just about Chinese buyers.
"There’s been a massive amount of transfers of land into foreign hands to a whole lot of countries including the United States, Australia, and Switzerland. Interests are coming through Luxembourg. The finance minister fobbed that question off in parliament but the fact is a lot on money coming through Luxembourg is actually black market money trying to find a clean home," he says.