Minister’s resignation sought over licences

Press, 28 December 1987, Page 3

Minister’s resignation sought over licences

By

BRENDON BURNS

political reporter

Inquiries are to be made by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Caygill, into an answer he gave Parliament earlier this month about alleged import licensing malpractices.

The Opposition’s spokesman on Trade and Industry, Mr Philip Burdon, yesterday called for Mr Caygill’s resignation over the answer. On December 9, Mr Burdon had questioned Mr Caygill about what appeared to be a $32 million over-issue of licences to import motor

vehicles. The Minister said there was no evidence of any over-issue. Mr Burdon said yesterday that the Customs Department rejected Mr Caygill’s explanation that the licences were cancelled. Customs staff say it is well known that the coding on the licences meant they had been sold, not cancelled. "On the face of the Minister’s statement, it now appears that many millions of dollars worth of licences have been issued, including the $32 million in the ‘cancelled’ category,” said Mr Bur-

don. Even more serious was the suspicion that the original owners of the “cancelled” licences did not know they had been issued the licence. He said questions had to be answered including who applied for the $32 million worth of licences, why they were not advised these had been awarded, who sold the licences and who benefited? A degree of abuse now quite clearly appears to have occurred in the administration of import licensing, said Mr Burdon. Mr Caygill had displayed

a quite remarkable ignorance of the licensing procedures and ought to apologise to Parliament for an incorrect statement. Mr Caygill said yesterday that the answer he had given first to the House, and later to a Sunday newspaper, had come from the Trade and Industry Department. “My understanding is that the answer had been checked with the Customs Department.” He said he would be very surprised if anything that he had said to Parliament was inaccurate dr misleading.