For the past few weeks, we've been showing how customs brokers were charging importers more than twice the actual duty in a kickback scheme linked to customs officers.
Last night we aired a story about the Prime Minister referring to our reporting on that big bite at northern customs as "shameful and disgraceful." Here's how he put it:
John Briceno, Minister of Finance
"As I mentioned to Cabinet on Tuesday when I saw the reporting from Channel 7. I said that I found it shameful and disgraceful. And of course as the minister responsible of course I have to take responsibility at the end of the day."
Well, the PM called our news director today to allege we deliberately misinterpreted his words. The PM says he told cabinet that he was talking about the hustle as being "shameful and disgraceful." He says those words were not meant to describe our reporting on the story - which he seemed to find illuminating.
