Prime Minister John Key has revealed he and his staff took the extraordinary step of combing through his parliamentary and electorate office files for evidence of any official contact with ACC claimant Bronwyn Pullar as her case drags National into a widening ACC scandal.© 2012 Fairfax NZ News
Mr Key said the search confirmed there had been no contact other than at social functions where Ms Pullar had raised her beef with ACC with him.
A letter from Ms Pullar's private insurance company Sovereign detailing a $14 million claim was leaked on Thursday. It showed Mr Key's name on a list of high-profile people who were claimed to be Ms Pullar's supporters.
Ms Pullar yesterday said Mr Key had not helped her with her claim and she had only one conversation with him about her fight for compensation.
"It was at a National Party Christmas function in Auckland when he was the MP for Helensville. I was very distressed at the time and I took the opportunity to vent my frustrations. He listened politely, but I did not ask him to do anything and he did not offer to assist."
Ms Pullar said she had been asked by "one of her advisers" to write a list of people who knew about her dispute with Sovereign. The letter referred to her $14m claim but it is understood she settled with the insurer for about $1m.
Mr Key said it was nothing new for him to be a victim of name dropping, but he knew he had nothing to hide.
"I've never been part of any support group or advisory group. I don't have Bronwyn Pullar's mobile phone or any other phone number in my phone. I've never rung her. I've gone through all my electorate office and/or parliamentary office files. There has never been any correspondence received from her or sent to her," he told Close Up.
"If anyone believes I'm not telling the truth, well, bring out the information and good luck to you because you'll have to be imagining a situation I wasn't involved in."
National is being torn apart by a series of leaks which resulted in the downfall of former ACC Minister Nick Smith, who got involved in Ms Pullar's case without declaring a conflict of interest over their close friendship. Speculation over the source of one of the leaks this week saw ACC Minister Judith Collins threaten to sue Labour MPs Andrew Little and Trevor Mallard and Radio New Zealand. But after the two MPs failed to meet a 5pm Thursday deadline to apologise, Ms Collins yesterday refused to comment on her next step.
Fate drew three of the central figures in the saga – Ms Pullar, support person Michelle Boag and Mr Key – to Queenstown yesterday. Ms Boag was the author of the email to Ms Collins which which was leaked. Ms Collins has denied that she or her office leaked it.
But while Ms Boag and Ms Pullar apparently caught up, lunching together in Queenstown, Ms Boag and Mr Key never crossed paths, despite being at the same golf tournament.
Sovereign general manager of marketing David Drillien said yesterday he was "very confident" the letter, shown on television had not been leaked by his company.
"It looked to me like it was an original that was mailed out."
Sovereign had an electronic copy of the letter which was only accessible to a few people, he said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6670174/Key-vetted-files-for-Pullar-ties
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