Parker inquiry likely to be swift

A Companies Office inquiry into business declarations made by former Cabinet minister David Parker is likely to be concluded quickly, Acting Registrar of Companies Adam Feeley indicated yesterday.

"Days, possibly a small number of weeks, certainly not many weeks or months," he told the Herald.

Mr Feeley said Mr Parker would be treated no differently from ordinary members of the public.

"No regard is had as to who the person is, but rather what the facts of the matter are and what the merits of bringing a prosecution are."

After resigning the Attorney-General portfolio on Monday, Mr Parker was forced yesterday to quit his other portfolios - Transport, Energy and Climate - just hours after restating his intention to keep them.

His resignation speech in Parliament prompted a standing ovation from Labour colleagues, the Green Party and some NZ First MPs.

Mr Parker, a Dunedin-based list MP, has admitted that several annual returns he made relating to the company Queens Park Mews were inaccurate when he declared that all shareholders had unanimously agreed to waive the requirement for the company accounts to be audited.

Mr Feeley said Companies Office officials, including legal staff, were examining the relevant documents.

They would report to the Registrar of Companies, who would also need the go-ahead of Crown Law for a prosecution to proceed.

Prosecutions under the Companies Act over returns that had been made were "relatively rare", with an average of only one or two a year.

But he made it clear that he was not speculating on the possibility of prosecuting Mr Parker.

Any MP convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment of two years or more is forced to resign from Parliament.

Under the Companies Act, the penalty for filing a false declaration is up to five years' jail or a fine of up to $200,000. It is also possible a prosecution could be brought under a section of the act with less severe penalties, such as fines imposed on directors for failing to comply with the act.

Mr Parker has referred to his returns as "a mistake", although yesterday on National Radio he said he had had some "disquiet" when he was sending in the returns.

Mr Feeley said the factors taken into account when deciding on whether to prosecute included the strength of any evidence that the error had been deliberate, the significance of the issue and the deterrent value of bringing a prosecution rather than issuing a warning.

He compared breaches of the Companies Act with road infringements.

"Every day people break the road code ... If we fail to stop at a stop sign completely ... a traffic officer will say 'Well, technically I could prosecute this person or fine them'.

"I've got to use my judgment about whether any public interest is served by doing that."

Corporate lawyer David Quigg said the Companies Office had become more vigilant in the past year on overseas companies which failed to make annual returns under the Financial Reporting Act. But he was not aware of a prosecution on an issue of accuracy under the Companies Act.

In Parliament, Helen Clark defended the two-step resignation - the first on Monday after revelations in Investigate magazine, and the second yesterday.

"Precisely 28 hours after I first heard of the matter, Mr Parker resigned all his portfolios. I believe that period of time was appropriate.

"A man's career was at stake and I believe he was treated fairly."

HOW THE STORY CHANGED YESTERDAY

* 7am: David Parker hangs tough on a live interview on National Radio. " I do actually believe that I've got something to offer in those other portfolios [Transport, Energy and Climate Change]."

* 8am to 10am: Mr Parker consults friends and colleagues, including Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen, who is thought to have discussed the likely political damage of staying.

* 10am: Mr Parker meets Prime Minister Helen Clark and Dr Cullen and resigns.

* 10.45am: Helen Clark tells reporters she has accepted the resignation. Implies that if she had not received it she would have sacked Mr Parker. 3pm: Mr Parker tells Parliament: "I thought I saw a fair line between that [the Attorney-General role] and my other ministerial responsibilities. The questions that journalists asked of me caused me to reflect on that overnight. I think they were right and so, following the Westminster tradition that I believe in, I resigned my other portfolios this morning."