Restraint required as theft claims investigated
NZ First went too far with tweet after allegations against MP surfaced
Just one day after Newstalk ZB Plus broke the news that highprofile Green MP Golriz Ghahraman was facing an allegation of shoplifting designer items from high-end Auckland boutique Scotties, New Zealand First issued a tweet.
On a black and gold banner promoting NZ First’s coalition commitments, these words were emblazoned: “Restoring law and order — we’re ensuring real consequences for low level crimes like shoplifting”.
The accompanying blurb stated, “as part of our coalition agreement, we’re amending the Sentencing Act to ensure real consequences for lowerlevel crimes such as shoplifting. Small Kiwi businesses deserve legislation that holds offenders to account and discourages theft.”
The tweet was authorised by NZ First party secretary Holly Howard.
The impact was fast. Nearly 110,000 views by 2pm yesterday, reposted 250 times and liked by more than 1000.
Most commenters on X, formerly Twitter, drew a connection between the tweet and the allegations Ghahraman faces.
Of course, the tweet was sufficiently opaque not to be construed as an outright attempt to influence either the police investigation which is under way, or any resultant penalty that a court may impose if shoplifting charges were to be successfully laid.
But in a situation where political restraint is called for so as not to contaminate the investigation, the tweet was imprudent.
In the Ghahraman incident, it is obvious that what is in the public view and has so far been published remains circumstantial. It raises issues that clearly call out for rigorous investigation.
Appropriately, journalists such as Philip Crump from ZB Plus, who broke the initial story and continues to lead on developments, have made it clear that the allegations of shoplifting are just that – allegations.
Over the course of two days, Crump has revealed that shop staff at Scotties in Ponsonby stopped Ghahraman as she attempted to leave the store without paying on December 23.
Crump writes that he understands the Green MP refused to open her bag when requested by shop assistants and is alleged to have left the store with her bag containing the unpaid items. Those items were returned anonymously hours later.
He earlier revealed that the Green Party was across the allegations and Ghahraman would be standing aside from all portfolio responsibilities “until the matter is resolved”.
Crump also has disclosed that another alleged incident of shoplifting took place weeks before the December 23 incident.
The usual police procedure is to requisition the relevant CCTV tapes for evidence, first to see if they suggest shoplifting did occur and then to use as evidence if charges are laid.
For Ghahraman, who is the Green Party’s seventh-highest-ranked list MP and holds the party’s justice portfolio, the allegations are devastating.
A Green Party spokesperson told ZB Plus on Wednesday that the party was aware of the allegations relating to the incident on December 23. “Green MPs are expected to maintain high standards of public behaviour,” the spokesperson added.
Newstalk ZB Plus also reported that the Greens have a copy of the CCTV tape.
Parliament resumes in a fortnight, on Tuesday January 30.
The Greens will want to have this wrapped up one way or other by then.
The sooner Ghahraman gets back to New Zealand and tells her story, the better. In the meantime, the vacuum is being filled.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters long ago built a reputation as a two-fisted fighter for truth.
A courageous MP who was prepared to go the distance in the 1990s, even to the point of jeopardising his own political career prospects, by waging campaigns to unveil business conspiracies to defraud the taxpayer and malfeasance at BNZ, then under New Zealand ownership.
Peters has first-hand personal experience of the political shark pit.
In 2019 the High Court ruled his privacy was deliberately breached in the lead-up to the 2017 general election to publicly embarrass him on pension overpayments and cause him harm.
This should surely remind him of the necessity for fair play.
In my view the NZ First tweet is inappropriate and should be deleted.
The sooner Ghahraman gets back to New Zealand and tells her story, the better. In the meantime, the vacuum is being filled.