The Prime Minister needs to stand down Murray McCully and investigate the Saudi sheep deal following new contradictory claims by Murray McCully, the Green Party said today.
The Prime Minister needs to stand down Murray McCully and investigate the Saudi sheep deal following new contradictory claims by Murray McCully, the Green Party said today.
An email revealed today shows that on 13 May, Murray McCully’s office told One News that they were not aware of any threat by Saudi businessman Mr Hmood Al Ali Al Khalaf to take legal action. Mr McCully told Cabinet, in 2013, and Parliament, last week, that the sheep deal was necessary to stop legal action over the ban on live sheep exports.
“Murray McCully cannot keep a straight story over the flying sheep scandal,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw.
“John Key needs to stand Murray McCully down while the whole Saudi deal is investigated.
“It is increasingly looking like Murray McCully did mislead Cabinet and Parliament, and that is a breach of the Cabinet Manual. As the Minister responsible for compliance with the Cabinet Manual, John Key needs to investigate this.
"John Key should not keep a dodgy minister in Cabinet.
“The Green Party has lodged a complaint with the Office of the Auditor General because it is obvious we will never get the truth about how taxpayers’ money was used from Murray McCully.
“However, breaches of Cabinet Manual, and ultimate responsibility for keeping Ministers honest, rests with John Key and he needs to step up,” said Mr Shaw.
