Five years imprisonment?

Pete Hodgson has put out a press release raising concerns around legal and official declarations made by John Key.  No doubt this will be spun by National as 'desperate Labour' and 'nothing to see here', but it could potentially be serious.

The penalties under the Companies Act for providing misleading or fraudulent statements include up to five years imprisonment or a $200,000 fine. This is over the threshold at which an MP must step down from Parliament.

It will be interesting to see how much attention the media do/don't give this.  There could be a good explanation and it could be a non-issue (like the silly attention given to strip clubs) but then again it could be more serious.

UPDATE: Well I was almost right.  National's talking points for their members have been Labour desperate, nothing to see here, with two more - that Pete Hodgson should focus on his health portfolio and National are 'focused on the issues facing nz' and that 'labour is pased its used by date'.  So the reason you're seeing those lines repeated over and over on the NZ Herald site isn't because suddenly all New Zealands are thinking the same way - it's becuase National have send out their talking points.

Comments

[Idiot/Savant]

Given the flexibility of New Zealand electoral law about residency for electoral purposes, I'd hope the government has more to go on than just a declaration under the Electoral Act (presumably a registration, though it could be a return of candidate expenses - but there the candidate's address isn't a material particular, and the time limit for prosecution expired long ago).

[Cactus Kate]

The Electoral Act I assume is the more accurate.

Company Directors are meant to keep up to date all their details regarding change of address with the Companies Office.

Fact of the matter is that if you went through the Register right now there would be tens of thousands in breach of this.

It's administratively sloppy but most of the time its simply explained away as lawyers/accountant's errors/tardiness.

After all most people employ professionals to make sure these things are up to date and are charged handsomely accordingly.

It's not going to be deemed "fraud".

[Cactus Kate]

What the hell are you talking about Tony?

The smoking gun blew up in Pete's face. Because he did not know what he was talking about.

[Graeme Edgeler]

I'm a little late for the discussion (it's been a while since I've read your 'blog) but I thought I might add this.

1. I/S is right about the time for laying prosecutions under the Electoral Act - it's six months and it's passed.

2. Moreover, the offence of failing to update your electoral roll details carries at most a $50 fine ($100 for subsequent offences). And the offence of falsely registering carries at most three months in prison or a $2000 fine - not enough to kick someone from Parliament.

3. The Penalties under the Companies Act for filing a false declaration are as you say. However, notifying the names/address of directors does not require such a declaration and failure to do this carries a penalty of a $10,000 fine only - again not enough to see someone lose their seat.