Press Release 18.10.11 Financial corruption

Address by Dr Peter Cleave, candidate for Mana in Rangitikei to a meeting
> of constituents in the Kahuterawa Valley, Rangitikei Electorate 18.10.11
> Dr Peter Cleave began the meeting by ensuring that the constituents there
> knew his name and that he was standing in the Rangitikei electorate.
> He then went on to say that the case of the two former cabinet ministers,
> one a knight of the realm, in court in the Lombard Finance case shows how
> close these ex-politicians are to the whole dodgy bag of financial tricks
> that people are protesting about around the world.
> 'Former National minister Sir Douglas Graham and former Labour minister
> Bill Jeffries are a disgrace,' said Dr Cleave. They face penalties of up
> to $500,000 each for misleading investors in Lombard Finance.
> Some of the charges involved can carry a jail term of up to five years.
> 'Why are Graham and Jeffries and the other two Lombard partners not being
> treated in the same way as former Labour MP Philip Taito Field and given a
> jail term?,' said Dr Cleave.
> Graham and Jeffries from National and Labour, the two biggest parties in
> New Zealand, have allowed themselves to be the face, the apparently
> trustworthy face, of a financial system that went out of control in this
> country to a greater extent than elsewhere. Do we have any major finance
> companies not threatened with charges of deceit and corruption?
> Mana is making several steps to clean all this up.
> One is to take the people protesting around the world seriously by
> listening to them.
> The other is the introduction of the Hone Heke Tax and the abolition of
> GST. These reforms will be used to create a more egalitarian life for
> people.
> Across the board Mana is taking steps to involve people who have been left
> out of the financial system altogether. Better job prospects, better
> transport systems, better opportunities for a better standard of living.
> And there needs to be an end to greed. Doug Graham and Bill Jeffries are
> being tried alongside other directors, Laurie Bryant and Michael Reeves.
> Reeves indulged his love of European motor cars - like the Maserati -
> while on the Lombard payroll.
> Mana will bring a new approach, a new broom for this corrupt and unequal
> financial system which so many people are angry about right now.
> Dr Cleave closed the meeting by asking constituents to remember his name
> and that of the political movement that he represents, the Mana Movement.
>