No inquiry into Thiel citizenship
The controversial decision to grant New Zealand citizenship to Trump-backing tech billionaire Peter Thiel will not be investigated by the Auditor-General.
Thiel was granted citizenship in 2011 by then-internal affairs minister Nathan Guy despite having spent only 12 days in New Zealand as a resident - far less than the 1350 usually required.
He had invested in Kiwi companies and donated $1 million to Canterbury’s earthquake recovery. He was granted citizenship using a ‘‘public interest’’ exception.
Green MP Denise Roche wrote to the Auditor-General in February of this year, soon after Thiel’s citizenship was revealed, asking for an inquiry.
Roche was concerned that Thiel did not meet the normal requirements, had not lived up to the commitments he made in his application, and that Guy had not carefully considered the application.
Deputy Auditor-General Greg Schollum said Roche’s concerns broadly represented those of the public, but because they did not reveal ‘‘systematic’’ questions they were outside the authority of the office.
‘‘The issues in this case largely come down to policy questions (for example, whether the legislation strikes the right balance for citizenship decisions) or legal questions (for example, whether the minister applied section 9 (1)(c) correctly or gave weight to the right factors in Mr Thiel’s case).
‘‘These are not questions that the Auditor-General generally has authority to answer,’’ he wrote.
Schollum noted that the office had looked into the Bill Liu affair, but this was because there were significant worries about the wider citizenship process, which had not been raised in the Thiel case.
While Thiel made no promise to move to New Zealand in the application - again, usually a requirement - he did indicate that he wished to be an ambassador of sorts for New Zealand abroad, writing that it would give him ‘‘great pride’’ to let it be known that he was a Kiwi citizen.
There is no evidence that Thiel ever did act in this manner and he kept his citizenship completely secret until it was uncovered by media this year.
He is yet to comment on the matter.
Roche said she would pursue any other avenues of oversight possible, but doubted whether they would succeed.
‘‘Really that’s about it. It makes you wonder whether the law actually needs to be changed to ensure that there is some oversight, or to give the decision to the department rather than a politician because politicians can be swayed by wealth,’’ Roche said.
‘‘It just doesn’t feel right. Most New Zealanders just don’t think it is right.’’
Thiel, worth a reported $3.7 billion, rose to fame as the cofounder of PayPal.