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The expatriate billionaire caught up in a row over the suggestion his $500,000 donation to the Labour Party paved his way to the New Year Honours list says he is unlikely to give money to the party ahead of this year's election.
Owen Glenn - this week made
an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit - told the Herald the suggestion the donation was linked to the honour was offensive.
His intentions were "sincere" and the move ahead of the 2005 elections wasn't for personal gain.
"I just thought it was a fair request and I did it - I can afford it, I guess," said Mr Glenn.
"I'm a little disappointed that people try to see something negative in all this ... There is nothing I want from New Zealand except a New Zealand passport and the right to come back here and see my friends and family."
Mr Glenn, a colourful figure who considers New Zealand home despite living abroad for more than 40 years, was the party's largest donor at the last elections.
The Herald reported earlier this week that Mr Glenn had not made any donations to Labour since 2005, but he would be approached before this year's elections.
But Mr Glenn said yesterday that he was unlikely to contribute because of the "grief" he received.
He also doubted the party would need his backing as he understood it had been successful attracting funding from elsewhere.
Mr Glenn confirmed he had made other donations to other New Zealand political parties in the past but would not name them.
Political donations often remain anonymous.
Mr Glenn said he grew up leaning more towards the National Party's philosophy but over the years National itself had moved towards the centre.
"In my opinion, it comes down to the person at the helm."
He said he made the donation before the last election because he liked the "fair" and "just" Prime Minister Helen Clark and her "strong rule".
"I wanted my country to have continuing good stewardship. I didn't think at that time the person at the helm at the other major side [then National Party leader Don Brash] had it."
News of Owen Glenn's huge donations to causes in New Zealand raised the eyebrows of some, particularly as he left the country in 1966 and has a low public profile.
But Mr Glenn - who moved to Auckland from India with his family at age 11 and now resides in Sydney, Monaco and England - still retained close links with his "adopted" country that "gave me my start in life".
He has a brother living here, an Auckland-based transport business and owns racehorses in Matamata.
He said he returned to New Zealand about once a year.
"I still feel that it is my country," he said.
Mr Glenn left Mt Roskill Grammar School aged 15, a talking point when he met the local MP - and Prime Minister - Helen Clark after a boat race from Auckland to Kawau Island.
He hoped a voluntary role as New Zealand's honorary consul to Monaco would begin early this year, initially sparked by talks with Foreign Minister Winston Peters at the Rugby World Cup in Paris.
Mr Glenn, who made his fortune in freight forwarding, said he donated about $2 million a year internationally through a family trust but didn't "crow" about it, preferring to just "get on" with the work.
Among the projects is shipping container loads of condoms to Zambia in a bid to prevent the spread of Aids.
Another is helping to support families in Indian villages in an attempt to stop the trafficking of children.
In 2005, he made the single largest private donation to education when he gave $7.5 million to the University of Auckland's new business school.
Mr Glenn will return next month , when he will go to the opening of the university's new business school - and have a birthday party at Auckland's Viaduct Harbour.
