February 11, 2013
Ex-PM walking away from building collapse
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is calling for changes in rules around construction companies in the wake of the Mainzeal collapse.
Receivers laid off about 200 employees yesterday, and subcontractors are also out of work and out of pocket to the tune of millions of dollars.
Mr Peters says chief executive Richard Yan appointed directors to the country’s third-largest building firm based on politics.
He says the way the directors, including former National prime minister Jenny Shipley, resigned en masse on the eve of the collapse was a disgrace.
"Here was Jenny Shipley painting herself as an economic ace – of course, and we all know what a joke that was – and when it comes to accountability, which she was big on when it comes to beneficiaries, when it comes to her accountability, you can't see her for dust and small pebbles," he says.
Winston Peters says the Government needs to say whether it looked at the company’s books before it was given contracts by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery for the Christchurch rebuild.