Shipley: I destroyed leaked bank plan

By JOHN ARMSTRONG political editor

New Zealand Post will not be getting a leaked copy of its confidential business plan for the People's Bank back from Jenny Shipley - she says she has already shredded it.

Lawyers acting for NZ Post wrote to the National Party leader on Saturday demanding she return the document, which was sent anonymously to her office last week.

Mrs Shipley, who has drip-fed to the media over the past few days embarrassing information about account and automatic teller Machine fees to be charged by "MyBank," said yesterday that she had made her point and had destroyed her copy.

However, she then claimed that a separate independent appraisal of the business plan carried out by Cameron and Company showed the "most likely scenario" for the bank's viability was negative. She produced no detail or evidence, but said her source was highly reliable.

The NZ Post-run bank is expected to be given the go-ahead at today's cabinet meeting, even though some Labour ministers harbour reservations about the project, which will require an injection of $70 million-plus in taxpayers' funds.

Mrs Shipley also accused NZ Post chairman Ross Armstrong of "abusive bullying," after he accused her of committing "fiscal treason" by releasing parts of the document.

Dr Armstrong stood by that statement yesterday, saying Mrs Shipley had divulged sensitive commercial information to the new bank's foreign-owned competitors.

"It's pretty sad state of affairs. It is unprecedented lack of judgment. As for the suggestion I am bullying, I can't think anything would be further from the truth."

Mrs Shipley insisted that she had deliberately withheld what she considered to be commercially sensitive sections of the business plan.

And following a written request from Alliance leader Jim Anderton - who has been pushing the People's Bank proposal through the cabinet - she had destroyed remaining sections of the document which were not already in the public domain.

They included a page of sensitive information relating to security in the upgraded Post Shops.

Instead, Mrs Shipley released another page which says that a "secure area" will be developed within the Post Shops to be used for the banking project, rather than securing the whole shop.

Safes, closed-circuit television, recording equipment and cash counting areas will be within the secure area. Where possible, second-hand security equipment will be used to cut costs.

"We will, where possible, use second-hand equipment given the trend of bank ... closures and therefore availability of safes, cameras etc," it says.

The plan stresses the need for security standards to be "well within the standards set and operated" by mainstream banks.

Despite that, Mr Anderton said Mrs Shipley had gone too far and ignored his request not to release security information.

"Mrs Shipley is trying to create a false impression that security will not be as tight as it is at existing banks.

"That tactic may almost invite criminal behaviour."