In a "categorical statement", Mr Martin told the QT he had "no financial interest" and would not have any financial interest in Queenstown Airport "now or in the future".
Mr Martin is one of about 15 Queenstown businessmen who have formed the Queenstown Community Strategic Assets Group following concerns at QAC's creation of and selling a 24.99% shareholding to the Auckland airport for $27.7 million this month.
Mr Martin told the QT any suggestion members of the group had a financial interest in the airport needed to be "thoroughly dispelled".
However, Mr Taylor said he was contacted by Mr Martin the day after the announcement was made public.
"He rang me, he discussed the alliance arrangements and he offered to match ... the shareholding.
"But, as we have always said, it's more than just the money," Mr Taylor said.
"I was surprised at the comments [in the Queenstown Times]."Queenstown Lakes Mayor Clive Geddes said following a meeting with several members of the QCSAG, which was also attended by the council's chief executive, Debra Lawson, he made a "file note" about the concerns they raised.
The QCSAG members - Mr Martin, Mr Matthews, Mr Smolenski, Mr Cooper, Mr J. Davies and Mr Mehrtens - were "extremely concerned" about the alliance, he said.
"They wanted to understand how the transaction had been undertaken.
"They were extremely concerned that their principle, that the QAC should at all times be retained in local ownership, had been breached.
"That point was made by them repeatedly.
"Added to that, they commented several times if it were necessary for the airport to have to raise extra capital there were ... local investors, including some of the people in that room, who would be prepared to make that investment.
"Those two points were made repeatedly."
Mr Geddes said there was "no question" in his mind, or Ms Lawson's, that the largest part of the concern "was over what they perceived to be a loss of control".
"They repeatedly talked about Queenstown [and] in the event that capital was needed, that local control of the airport should be [achievable] because there were plenty of local people who were prepared to make an investment to keep it under local control."
"When asked again yesterday, Mr Martin reiterated he had "no interest in owning Queenstown Airport".
"If it was on the open market, there are 1000 people out there that would match that price.
"There are probably 1000 people in the South Island that would match that price straight away.
"What I was trying to express to him [Mr Taylor] ... was that the price was far too low.
"This information, rather than the scuttlebutt going around that we are upset we didn't get the airport, is simply not true," Mr Martin said.
"On top of that, if it was offered to the local business community, or the business community at large, that is the whole reason for our argument - this should go to the open market, the price should be established and the price hasn't been established ... we have been significantly short-changed in the value of the airport.
"This isn't about personalities ... this is about the democratic process and the deal."
The story so far
July 7: Queenstown Lakes District councillors attend a workshop at the council chambers, where they are briefed on a strategic alliance between the Queenstown Airport Corporation and Auckland International Airport Ltd.
The alliance means 24.99% of new shareholding has been sold to AIAL for $27.7 million, with AIAL seeking to increase its interest up to 35%.
The second tranche of that transaction is for the QLDC to action and it has up until June 30, 2011 to do so.
July 8: Media are invited to a press conference where the deal is made public.
Mayor Clive Geddes is quoted in the Otago Daily Times the next day as saying QAC would pay the council an upfront special dividend of $10 million "in a matter of days or weeks", with an estimated ongoing annual dividend of at least $2 million-$3 million to follow.
Cr Vanessa van Uden and former mayor Warren Cooper criticise the transaction and the process it followed.
July 12: The Queenstown Times reports capital expenditure of about $40 million over the next three years could probably not be generated by QAC's own resources, so the board was forced to look at "wider options".
July 13: The ODT reveals the special $10 million dividend will not be paid to the QLDC until more shares are sold to AIAL.
Meanwhile, Air New Zealand has "serious concerns" about the transaction and what it could mean for the cost of travel into and out of the resort, which could ultimately constrain tourism growth.
Cr van Uden says QAC directors have been "very clever" in the process of creating and selling the new shareholding, but in the process of being clever they had been "sly".
When QAC was asked by the ODT why changes had been made to its Statement of Intent around capital subscriptions between the draft and final version, QAC chief executive Steve Sanderson put it down to "better wording".
Meanwhile QAC chairman Mark Taylor has "some sympathy" for those critical of the transaction, but stands by the board's decision.
July 14: The Queenstown Chamber of Commerce calls an urgent meeting to discuss what it regards as "an increasingly contentious releasing of shares" and is working on a report based on "all of the information" to be circulated to its members and the community by the end of the week.
Mr Geddes says the council will not be bound by community feedback over the second phase of airport share sales.
AIAL rejects Air New Zealand's claim the alliance will constrain tourism growth in Queenstown.
July 15: The newly-formed Queenstown Community Strategic Assets Group issues a statement, concerned at the alliance.
Members of the group are Mr Cooper, John Martin, John Darby, John Davies, Philip Dunstan, Ken Matthews, Richard Mehrtens, Alastair Porter, Graham Smolenski and Barry Thomas.
Mr Cooper calls for the QAC directors to resign or explain themselves; Mr Martin believes the QLDC has been "hoodwinked" in the deal he describes as "cute".
July 16: The Chamber of Commerce releases its seven-page memorandum into the alliance, raising several issues with the deal.
It also releases two recommendations - one to take no further action with the issuing of more shares; the other to investigate whether there had been a breach of QAC's responsibilities under its Statement of Intent. Meanwhile, Mr Taylor says legally the QAC was able to issue more shares, but the directors used their "good judgement" in the alliance.
July 19: The Queenstown Times reports Mr Martin, spokesman for the QCSAG, as having no financial interest in Queenstown Airport in what he called a "categorical statement".
Mr Geddes says it will likely be for the next mayor and council to deal with the increasingly contentious issue.
However, even if the decision was "No", QAC could still issue the shares using the powers of its constitution; Mr Cooper gives QLDC chief executive Debra Lawson a letter asking for "advice" on the process used to brief councillors on the deal, which he believes did not follow legislative rules; Mr Taylor is invited to address the Chamber of Commerce regarding the memorandum it issued and raises several points, which will be re-circulated to members.
July 20: Ms Lawson says she will respond to Mr Cooper privately; Mr Taylor says Mr Martin's comments in last Monday's Queenstown Times were at odds with a discussion the pair had the day after the deal was publicly announced.
July 21: QLDC councillors meet for more than three and a-half hours at a "workshop", also attended by Mayor Geddes, QAC representatives and legal advisers to discuss the shares deal, a meeting Cr Cath Gilmour says should have been held before the July 8 announcement.
Ms Lawson tells Mr Cooper he has got it wrong about the circumstances of the July 7 workshop and reminds him he was mayor when the QAC constitution was approved by the council in 1996.
QAC issues a statement calling on chamber president Alistair Porter to stand aside from the debate over airport shares, saying he has a conflict of interest.
July 22: Mayor Geddes says he is "unrepentant" about the continued criticism of the deal and urges people to "focus on the transaction".
July 23: Air New Zealand steps back into the fracas by suggesting it and other airlines should join forces to buy a cornerstone shareholding in the airport which it claimed would allow the Queenstown community to retain full ownership of the asset.
