John Key MP

National Party Finance Spokesman

12 July 2005

Cullen backtracking on tax deals

National Party Finance spokesman John Key says Michael Cullen appears to be trying to backtrack on his earlier defence of the tax deals which saw money coming through the Cayman Islands.

"Michael Cullen is quietly backing away from his staunch defence of these deals, which have looked dubious ever since they were outlawed in the US.

"However, he must also know he can't escape further questions about whether he accepted Treasury's advice not to ask too many questions about the Transpower tax deal.

"He must also tell us at what stage of the process he found out these deals were on the verge of being made illegal in the US.

"After initially launching such a strong defence of these agreements, Dr Cullen doesn't seem to be saying much about them now," notes Mr Key.

"While he's trying to dig himself out of this hole, perhaps he might also like to shed some light on the hundreds of millions of dollars of tax-in-dispute which he is already planning to spend."

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