Questions over Westpac corporate hospitality for ministers
Senior ministers are receiving corporate hospitality from Westpac while a review of the government's 21-year-old contract with the bank is taking place
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Senior ministers and their staff are receiving corporate hospitality from Westpac while a review of the government's 21-year-old contract with the bank is taking place.
Questions were raised last year over why the Government had not run a tender process for its master banking contract -- understood to be the single largest banking contract in New Zealand -- since the current contract was inked in 1989.
Finance Minister Bill English last year said the Government would start a competitive procurement process for its banking, with the aim of getting value for money for the Crown.
The government has denied any conflict of interest over the corporate hospitality.
The Green Party today released the results of a series of written questions to government ministers over their relationships with Westpac.
Nine ministers said they had accepted corporate hospitality from Westpac in the past year, including box seats at the rugby sevens, dinner at the White House restaurant in Wellington, and tickets to rock concerts.
Thirteen ministers said their staff had accepted similar hospitality from the bank.
Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said the ministers accepting personal gifts from Westpac created a potential conflict of interest while the government was reviewing its banking.
"The fact that so many ministers had staff who also accepted Westpac's largesse is disquieting, given the central role of ministerial staff in influencing the decisions of their busy ministers," he said.
Dr Norman called for a competitive tender for the master banking contract, and for the Cabinet Manual to be more explicit about accepting gifts.
A spokesman for Finance Minister Bill English said the implication that ministers had been influenced by the bank's hospitality was wrong.
The government had negotiated ongoing contractual price reductions for its banking service since 2005, and last year stated its clear intention to run a competitive procurement process for government banking designed to achieve value for money.
"Officials have already begun scoping work on that process, and this will be the first time in over 20 years the Government's master banking contract has been opened to a competitive process," the spokesman said.
NZPA
Wed, 01 Jun 2011
Wed, 01 Jun 2011
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Questions over Westpac corporate hospitality for ministers
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