Deceit or incompetence?

Former Air New Zealand CEO (and now National MP) Chris Luxon has said he doesn't remember anything about his company's war-crimes contract. Its a convenient memory loss, and strongly reminiscent of John Key's tactics when confronted with wrongdoing (first, implausibly deny knowledge; then, claim to be "relaxed" about it...), and pretty obviously we should be suspicious of such a self-serving claim, and about the integrity of the man making it. But if we take it seriously, then Luxon is in fact admitting something else: that he wasn't doing his job as CEO. Because avoiding involvement in war crimes is something any decent CEO should be keeping an eye on, and if this slipped past him, it means he simply wasn't doing his job properly. And either way, having demonstrated either deceit or incompetence, he's not someone who can ever be trusted in a Ministerial role. Or as a party leader.