Difficult year at Onetai Station
It has been a tough year for Onetai Station after allegations its new owners had failed the good character test required by the Overseas Investment Office.
The episode resulted in its owners, Argentine leather tannery businessmen brothers Rafael and Federico Grozovsky, being ultimately cleared.
However, the OIO issued them with a formal warning in late September after it reviewed its recommendation for consent of the $6 million purchase.
Labour MP David Cunliffe revealed a pollution allegation against the brothers. As well, it was revealed the farm had been bought through a trust, Ceol & Muir, set up with the help of ‘‘Panama Papers’’ law firm Mossack Fonseca.
Speaking at the Onetai Station’s annual field day via a video message, Rafael Grozovsky said Cunliffe’s ’’false accusations’’ had made the year difficult. ’’Fortunately we are glad this nightmare is over and that all the accusations are confirmed they are false.’’
Ceol & Muir director Mike Barton said they spent a lot of months and a lot of money dealing with Cunliffe’s accusations. The money spent on dealing with the accusations could have been spent on employing two more staff, he said.
Barton said New Zealand could learn some lessons from the issue. If the nation was going to add more value to its agricultural exports, it needed partners and the Grozovskys were the sort of people New Zealanders should be attracting to this country.
Grozovsky and his family were part of that, taking lamb skins for their tannery and turning them into a high-end product worth five times what they paid for the skins.
In its ruling, the OIO said the Grozovskys could be forced to sell the property if they and an Argentinian company they directed, Magromer, were convicted of a pollution offence in Argentina. OIO deputy chief executive Lesley Haines acknowledged the OIO had been aware the Magromer tannery was facing charges when it recommended Ceol & Muir be allowed to buy the farm in 2013.
The department did not pass on that information to ministers who made the final decision on the sale.
Haines did not expect the Magromer case to go to a full hearing in Argentina until next year at the earliest.