Mon, 12 Oct 2009 8:55p.m.
Melissa Lee
National Party list MP Melissa Lee says her television production company has corrected "an accounting oversight" and will repay taxpayer funds to NZ on Air.
3 News reported tonight Ms Lee's company, Asia Vision Ltd, was under investigation and NZ on Air had written to her asking why it did not return $100,000 of unspent contingency money.
The letter said the company seemed to have acted in a way that was in breach of its funding contract.
Ms Lee was National's candidate in the June 13 Mt Albert by-election and during the campaign faced allegations that her company had misused taxpayer funds for political purposes.
NZ on Air cleared her of those allegations, and the current investigation is not connected with them.
Ms Lee issued a statement two hours after the 3 News report saying NZ on Air had uncovered "a technical accounting mistake".
She said it involved a budgeted contingency fund set aside from profits, which NZ on Air had concluded should have been repaid at the end of each financial year.
"At a time when there was no increase in funding, the company reduced its profit margins so it could continue making quality television and prudently maintain a contingency fund," she said.
"This has come as a total surprise, the company wasn't aware that the money set aside in the contingency was technically expected to be refunded."
Ms Lee said it was "an innocent error" and the company would pay back any money NZ on Air deemed to be outstanding.
The letter was dated June 12, the day before the by-election, but the issue was not revealed during the campaign.
Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman, who is responsible for NZ on Air, said he first knew about it on August 18 and it was an operational issue that Ms Lee had to sort out.
The Labour Party, which has the same document as TV3, says Dr Coleman must have known about the letter before then.
"Unless he fronts up and tells the public what he knows, he could be accused of a cover-up," Labour's deputy leader Annette King said.
"He must have known about it. It's never been disclosed, no one has ever known it existed."
Labour intends asking questions about it in Parliament tomorrow.
NZPA
