Cook Islands Collectors (continued from page 2499)
income would be $140,000, and if a New York Philatelic Agency tover, the income would be $200,000.(1) (The Bureau m ave been at least as successful as inflation since the pension is now $5 a week.(2))
It is not surprising therefore, that the New York Agency got the contract which gave the Cook Islands 50% of the takings(3) with a minimum of $60,000 a year.(4) Kenny is now also responsible for the Bureau on Niue(5) and is believed to run those of Aitutaki and Penrhyn also(4). Similar arrangements presumably operate there also. Niue certainly has a 50% deal on gross returns with the agency taking the other 50% and paying the costs involved.(4) Government sources in Niue claim the Bureau there earned the Government $15,000 in 1977 in its first three months of operation.(6) (The Island was reported to have averaged $45,000 a year over the previous 10 years under New Zealand administration.)
Apparently Kenny also went after bigger game: "Kenny approached New Zealand in the 1960's when Jack Scott was Postmaster-General and made a similar offer, which was firmly rejected.
"He offered to do the same for New Zealand. You can guess what Jack Scott said—and he said it slowly and deliberately", Mr. Muldoon, the New Zealand Prime Minister told a press conference.(7)
The Cook Islands agreement has never actually been laid before the Cook Islands Assembly, as far as can be deter- mined. The Bureau is operated by the Cook Islands Develop- ment Company Ltd., registered in Rarotonga, the directors being Finbar and Marianne Kenny and Ian Alexander Forbes of Rarotonga (Forbes was previously Government Printer). A significant holding in this company is held by Polynesian Development Corporation which has the same New York address as the major shareholder, Kenny Inter- national Corporation.(4)
As a private operation, the Bureau does not have to be audited by Government auditors. Contrast this with Sir Albert's declaration when the Bureau commenced that “As with all Government activities, the utmost care is taken to prevent any dishonest dealings or the obtaining of stamps without authority, and since public monies are involved, the fullest audit is at all times taken . . . any collectors interested in Cook Islands stamps can at all times fully and completely rely upon the integrity of the Cook Islands Govern- ment".(4, 8)
Sir Albert has described the arrangement with Kenny as "like a blessing from heaven; it just drops down”.(3) He didn't know what Mr. Kenny's expenses were in the opera- tion, and the Government didn't ask to see them. What was especially a financial boon to the Cook Islands, said Sir Albert, was that Finbar Kenny made interest-free cash available from his own profits to developing Cook Islands business ventures. Mr. Kenny in return now had a number of financial investments in the islands, as he sometimes took equity in business ventures that his money supported.(3)
When the interviewer suggested that Mr. Kenny would no doubt prefer to see Sir Albert and his government remain "in power for ever", the Premier replied frankly that Mr. Kenny no doubt could feel this, especially as "some people” would like to see some of the stamp money diverted to something else.(3)
One sceptic is the leader of the opposition, Dr. Tom Davis. In July 1976, he caused uproar in the Cook Islands Assembly when he attacked Sir Albert's dealings with the Bureau.(9) “Sir Albert said the Bureau was a private concern, which was helping the Cook Islands through financial aid Stamp Collecting, 17th August, 1978
to the old-age pension scheme... he did not intend to delve into the Bureau's affairs.
“Dr. Davis . . . at first accused the Government of hiding the Bureau's money. After a point of order, he accused Sir Albert of hiding the money. This led to a heated debate with the assembly eventually telling Dr. Davis to either 'put up' or 'shut up'-prove his statement or withdraw. Dr. Davis finally agreed to withdraw and apologised to Sir Albert."(9)
The auditors weren't entirely happy either. In his 1972 report, the New Zealand Government Auditor spoke of a minimum return to the Cook Islands of $60,000 per annum payable quarterly. "In the opinion of this office, the Bureau is not paying the Government in accordance with the detailed terms of the agreement in that stamps acquired in excess of the quarterly minimum are not paid for at the time, although an appropriate end-of-year adjustment is later made. The result is that some $70,000 is being retained by the Bureau for periods of up to one year; whilst the Public Account continues to be in overdraft at the bank for more than this amount, thus incurring unnecessary overdraft charges... Government control over stamps is confined to the acceptance of periodic certificates of holdings from the President of the Polynesian Development Corporation... Government exercises no control over these stocks.”(10)
There have also been questions about coinage. "There were also government orders for coinage totalling $602,340, but here again the auditors found it impossible to confirm that all this money was accounted for.”(11)
It has been pointed out by one critic that the Polynesian Development Corporation or its associates in New York arrange production of the stamps, have them printed in Spain and shipped through warehouses in the United States, meet all other costs and supply the Bureau in the Islands and he wonders what guarantees there are that stamps are not being supplied under the counter, as it were, to American collectors.(4) Sir Albert has been quoted as saying that there were two sections to the Bureau; all revenue from the internal sections going to the Cook Islands Government and the external to a private organisation. "I asked that part of the external money, instead of going to New York, be established in the Cook Islands to support any projects I might recommend outside Government. Several companies in the Cook Islands would have gone bankrupt except for the help of the philatelic money.”(12)
One of these may have been the Government-guaranteed Shipping Company which was advanced $103,374 in 1973 from the Polynesian Development Company to meet un- expected engine repairs for the M.V. Lorena.(4)
Sir Albert's recent election-winning flights of supporters to the Cooks from New Zealand have not only upset the opposition. Until the recent revelations that the Bureau was the source of the money, the New Zealand Prime Minister, with whom relations in recent years have hardly been inti- mate or sweet, upset Sir Albert even further by talking of an accounting to determine whether the money came from New Zealand aid money, now $6 million a year-about $333 for every man, woman and child left in the Cooks.(2)
Technically, the Bureau appear to have acted in the election matter with responsibility, and within their agree- ment in providing money for development. The Manager has even given evidence that he understood that Sir Albert had asked Mr. Kenny to change the advance for the flights from a Government transaction to a personal one, but this was refused under instructions that "the advance could in no way be regarded as anything but an advance against philatelic revenue to be earned by the Government.”(13) (Continued on page 2513)
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