More on Pandey court melee, Treasury's take on rebuild, Fonterra's Romano question and NZ's best workplace

The High Court has been told the directors of a company which owned a controversial Rotorua motel met just once – to sign the incorporation documents.

The revelation at an Auckland High Court hearing this week – reported in today’s National Business Review print edition – raises further questions about the involvement of the NBR Rich Lister Pandey family in liquidated company Capital Hospitality Holdings.

In other news, a Treasury report warns the Christchurch rebuild is heading for “suboptimal outcomes”, unless certain improvements are made.

Shoeshine tackles the independent report into Fonterra’s botulism scare – why it should be required reading for all company directors. The column also asks, if no one individual is responsible for the scare, why was Gary Romano allowed to fall on his sword?

Meanwhile, Overland Footwear – owned by the Anselmi family, who debuted on this year's Rich list – has been named New Zealand’s best workplace for 2013.

Political editor Rob Hosking sits down with government front-bencher Tony Ryall, who says why he is wary of extending the partial privatisation programme of state assets.

Reporter David Williams details Mad Butcher franchise-owner Veritas Investments’ defence of variances between its maiden accounts and prospectus forecasts.

A discrepancy between how onshore and offshore lending funds are taxed means the Treasury is missing out on over $500 million a year, Jamie Ball reports. One tax expert says even if a specific tax levy on offshore, non-resident lenders was scrapped, a similar one would probably have to replace it.

In Margin Call, editor in chief Nevil Gibson details how the Guardians of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund have battered the myth you shouldn’t borrow to buy shares.

Tomorrow's paper also has a 13-page information technology feature on the cloud. Inside, OneNet chief executive Dr Michael Snowden outlines why why data sovereignty matters to businesses, especially amidst intense global interest in government access to business and personal data.

Briefly:

• In Asia Watch, Nathan Smith writes rooting out corruption could prove to be a make-or-break policy pursuit for many emerging economies.
• Order Paper previews the first Labour party conference under David Cunliffe.
• In Tray takes a satirical view of political affairs: Prime Minister John Key with a certain Ms Meridian; David Cunliffe with, umm, himself; and Fonterra parting company with its own credibility.

All this and more in today's National Business Review print edition. Out now.