The more I think about it the more it seems to me that John Key’s meeting with Rail America needs some more explaining.
For a start these kinds of meetings don’t just happen of their own accord. Rail America is based, somewhat unsurprisingly, in America. John Key is based in New Zealand. That means someone had to take a 20 hour flight for this meeting to take place.
Then there’s the fact that someone had to think it was a good idea for Key to meet with company reps. The question is who was that person? I assume David Richwhite would have been dealing with Rail America at that time and he has been a big (and controversial) donor to the National Party (and my sources tell me Key is personally acquainted with him) so maybe it was him.
If he was the go-between then the situation gets murkier as insider trading proceedings were filed against David Richwhite in an action that included investigation into “a bid by Rail America for Tranz Rail (in the event not proceeded with)”. What the exact charge around the Rail America sale was we don’t know because that action was stopped when $20 million was payed out by Richwhite but no liability was accepted.
Of course this is only surmise but according to the Labour party Key was at the meeting in his capacity as a representative of New Zealand’s parliament.
If Key did meet with the company in his capacity as our representative then the public has a right to know all of the details surrounding this meeting and pertinent questions would be where did he meet Rail America and, if it was in the US, who picked up the tab for the flights and accommodation?
There may be simple answers to the questions of who set the meeting up, where it was, what was discussed and who, exactly, it was with but unfortunately I don’t think we’ll ever hear them.
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