The New Zealand team and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment resolve the America’s Cup dispute

The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment has resolved its legal dispute with Emirates Team New Zealand over the use of public money for the organization of the America’s Cup.

MBIE announced that it had met with ETNZ and America’s Cup Events (ACE) today in mediation to resolve the issues.

MBIE said the dispute was over whether creating a class rule for the America’s Cup was a cost of the event under the venue agreement.

“We regret the way this issue has played out in the public arena and the negative impact of the process on the reputation of ETNZ and ACE, their directors and teams.

“The parties agreed that there was a reasonable basis for the different opinions held to date,” said a joint statement by the parties.

“The contract dispute arose during the course of an independent audit initiated by MBIE as a result of allegations of financial wrongdoing and embezzlement, which were subsequently investigated and found to be in error.

“In the course of mediating the dispute, ETNZ and ACE have provided MBIE with independent information and advice that supports their opinion.

“MBIE, ETNZ and ACE have now agreed that there was a reasonable and legitimate basis for ETNZ and ACE to consider the costs of the class rule to be within the scope of the event costs in the host venue agreement.”

MBIE has provided more than $ 100 million of taxpayer money for the New Zealand team, as well as $ 40 million for ACE to lead the Auckland International Sailing Regatta.

The dispute became public on July 1, when the Herald revealed that the Government was investigating Team New Zealand and ACE for spending public money, including allegations of a “reclassified” $ 3 million loan and allegations of fraud on a Hungarian bank account.

At that time, MBIE had provided $ 29 million to ACE.

A day later, MBIE confirmed that it was freezing the funds, shortly before the New Zealand team received a court order from the Supreme Court preventing the owners of the Herald, NZME, from revealing details of what the court considered an interim report from the forensic accounting firm Beattie Varley.

The move followed days of headlines, initiated by Emirates Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton, alleging that the union had identified and expelled “spies” within the team.

Dalton made the remarks days after MBIE CEO Carolyn Tremain and then Auckland Council CEO Stephen Town wrote to ACE outlining concerns about the event organizer’s ability to run a “safe and successful event. “and about how the funds had been used.

Dalton consistently denied wrongdoing.

“Categorically, absolutely not. I guess that’s one of the disappointing things about all this, because accusations are easy to make, they are often more difficult to defend.”

Dalton said there was never a loan between ACE and Team New Zealand and said the fraud was related to the team being the victim of a scam.

After winning the injunction against the Herald, Dalton issued a statement stating that the team was the victim of a “deliberate, sinister and highly orchestrated attack.”