KEY POINTS:
Owen Glenn says his bid to be New Zealand's honorary consul in Monaco was so advanced he was vetted for it and had the full backing of Winston Peters when Foreign Affairs Minister.
Mr Glenn lives in the principality and would have funded the position himself but the
Government never went ahead with it.
Yesterday, he told of meeting New Zealand's ambassador to France Sarah Dennis, in Paris last October, when she "vetted" him for the role. The meeting was "at her invitation" after she originally tried to see him in Monaco.
" had morning tea with her, said, 'Madam ambassador, why am I here?' and she said, 'Well, I've been asked to vet you for the position in Monaco'," Mr Glenn told Radio New Zealand.
"I said, 'OK, what's your decision?' and she said, 'You seem to be all right'."
The final decision was Mr Peters' as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The vetting shows Mr Glenn was very close to getting the position before controversy about it broke in February and the $100,000 donation he made to Mr Peters in 2005 became public in July.
Mr Glenn said he received a phone call from Mr Peters on the weekend of February 16-17 this year, as the politician was leaving on a ministerial trip to South Africa. "[Mr Peters said:] 'I'm still supporting this, I want to push it through ... It is my decision, I'm backing it'."
Mr Glenn was in Raglan at the time and said he had a witness to Mr Peters' call. He said Mr Peters asked him to write a letter confirming he was going to live in Monaco permanently.
Mr Glenn said he also brought the role up with Prime Minister Helen Clark during a private meeting on February 21 at the opening of the new business school he funded at the University of Auckland.
Mr Glenn created controversy by publicly claiming the position was his when it was then known he had given the Labour Party $500,000 before the 2005 election and another $100,000 loan after it.
"She [Helen Clark] said: 'Well look, it might be best to just let it lie and let's not at this stage stir the pot'."
Mr Glenn still continued to try to get the post in May, sending the letter of confirmation Mr Peters had asked for.
Monaco is a principality bordering France that is used as a tax haven. It does not have an honorary consul - a position held by lay people, rather than diplomats, to promote New Zealand's interests in countries or cities where it does not already have representation.
