Bolger ‘caused run’ on United

Press, 25 August 1988, Page 1

Bolger ‘caused run’ on United

By

PETER LUKE,

political reporter

The Government has accused the Opposition of being responsible for last week’s dramatic run on the United Building Society.

It condemned the Opposition for creating a public climate of fear over the last 10 weeks for the political goal of discrediting the Minister of Justice, Mr Palmer. It also tried to sheet home specific responsibility for the run on United to the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, or his staff.

The thrust of this charge was that a memorandum naming United had been distributed in Parliament’s Press Gallery before the run.

Government speakers alleged that this memorandum — written by a suspended Justice Department official, Mr Keith Peterson — was circulated by one of Mr Bolger’s staff.

The Associate Minister of Justice, Mr Woollaston, tabled the memorandum, and said that the name, U. 8.5., was one of three institutions named to have a mark alongside it.

This had been intended to draw attention to it, he said. This attack, in Parliament, was the first sustained Government offensive in the long-running corporate fraud wrangle, and occurred in the absence of Mr Bolger, who is overseas. The debate opened with a withering attack by the Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, on Mr Bolger’s track record in the wrangle. He charged that the run on United was a direct result of a climate of fear created by Mr Bolger. He then asked a series of

loaded questions about the Peterson memorandum. These asked if it was true that it had been circulated by Mr Bolger or his staff shortly before the run, and that there was a mark against U.B.S. The first Opposition speaker, the Deputy Leader, Mr McKinnon, made no reply to the specific questions, although he described the charges as “laughable.”

Subsequently, Opposition speakers rejected any link with the run, saying that United itself believed the rumours that started it came from a different source. The member of Parliament for Tauranga, Mr Winston Peters, said the attack was a desperate attempt to restore Mr Palmer’s reputation. Another Opposition member challenged the Government to point to one Opposition speech or statement naming United. But no Opposition member rebutted the specific allegations about the'memorandum made by Mr Douglas as questions, but as fact by later speakers. Government members, for their part, did not spell out, far less prove, how any Opposition actions precipitated the run on United. The memorandum was written on April 28 and contains only one mention of the United Building Society — in an appendix on page 9. There is nothing to indicate who put the mark alongside the name or for. what reason. '