Statement Regarding Whale Oil Defamation Trial
The New Zealand Food & Grocery Council (NZFGC) is pleased to hear this long-running Court proceeding is effectively now at an end.
However, NZFGC wishes to reiterate it did not pay anyone to write any stories on its behalf on Whale Oil, or any other publication. Nor was NZFGC otherwise involved in any such stories.
This was made abundantly clear to Professor Sellman, Professor Swinburn and Mr Bradbrook throughout the Court process.
Their claim against NZFGC and its CEO, Mrs Katherine Rich, was settled on this basis as far as NZFGC and Mrs Rich are concerned.
We are concerned by a press statement in the name of Mr Shane Bradbrook that creates the impression he received a payment from NZFGC, when the opposite is true (Dirty PR Exposed In Whale Oil Defamation Trial | Scoop News)
We made clear to Mr Bradbrook numerous times prior to and during proceedings that we had never heard of him or his organisation, Te Reo Marama, before the case. The plaintiffs accepted this. After some years, Mr Bradbrook discontinued his claim against NZFGC, and in October 2019 he had to make a payment to NZFGC for court costs.