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Horan won't quit parliament, lawyer says
Former NZ First MP Brendan Horan won't resign from parliament and is stunned by his "bombshell" expulsion from caucus, his lawyer says.
Mr Horan is embroiled in a family scandal and has rejected allegations he misappropriated money from his late mother's estate.
Party leader Winston Peters told parliament on Tuesday he had received "substantive material" relating to the allegations, some of it as recently as 2.15pm.
"The information I have received leaves me in a position where I have no confidence in Mr Horan's ability to continue as a Member of Parliament and he will be expelled from the New Zealand First caucus forthwith," he said.
"Mr Horan has a duty, I believe, to resign as a Member of Parliament."
Mr Horan's lawyer, Paul Mabey QC, says the MP has no intention of resigning.
"He sees no reason to leave because he has done nothing wrong," Mr Mabey said on Radio New Zealand.
"He had no idea this was coming. He hasn't been shown the material."
Mr Mabey says he will talk to the MP on Wednesday.
"Right now he is dealing with the bombshell delivered in parliament... it is very stressful."
Mr Peters told reporters he deliberately used parliamentary privilege to make the announcement.
"I'm not going to be subject to people spraying defamation writs that cost you a fortune, no matter how correct you might be," he said.
Mr Peters acknowledged he had judged Mr Horan.
"Yes, I have, because that's the position I'm in and I've got to take it deadly seriously."
Mr Horan's half-brother, Mana Ormsby, has alleged thousands of dollars were misappropriated from Olwen Horan's bank account before she died in August, aged 87.
Mrs Horan won about $1 million in an Australian lottery in August 1999, and in February 2007 she had $259,000 in her account.
When she died there was just $3000 left.- < Previous
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44 Comments
Getting rid of the NZ First label could be the best thing for Brendan Horan especially when he is able to prove that these allegations are untrue and malicious. Imagine anyone taking the word of his half brother Mark who lived with the now deceased mother and has collected a benefit for 15 years! His gravy train is off the rails! Oddly I think that Brendan has been wronged and it is Winston who is going to look like a reactionary fool at the end of the day. Good luck young fella.
ReplyOf course Bendon Horan won't quit Parliament because that will mean a loss of over $150,000 a year plus nice perks.
ReplyPoor old Brendon Horan isn't even allowed to dab in TAB with his late mother's slush fund!! Pity that he lost heaps and found out by his late mum and now, it is not ony going to rain, it buckets down big time. Good old Winston Peters had taken the bull by the HOR.N and booted Brendon out of NZ First caucus and NZ Party. This must be worth 5% increase in votes for NZ First in enxt election!!!
ReplyGreg your quite correct , your average Maori is used to make up the numbers so a filthy few get all the gain, sadly many down and out young Maori feel empowered when they hear/read of new claims going through but they are merely being used and actually thier gain is NIL. infact if non maori feel hard done by , joe bloggs Maori should be outraged ! but most dont know whats really happening.
ReplyThis is great. Brings the Winnie Party into further disrepute.
Reply