IBM down and out down under

Big Blue is facing possible legal action by the New Zealand government following the collapse of a deal to supply new systems for the NZ police service. Big Blue announced it was walking away from the project, which has been on-going for six years and has run up a bill of NZ$132.1 million (£43 million) so far, according to today's Financial Times. That puts it over budget by NZ$35 million and is coming under an increasing barrage of flack from the NZ authorities. Some of the project's supporters have now turned on IBM accusing them of draining the police of resources that could have been used elsewhere. IBM is thought to be considering taking legal action against the Kiwi authorities. August is turning out to be a bad month for IBM and its relationships with national governments. Last week, it was reported that IBM is being investigated by the Inland Revenue in the UK for allegedly siphoning off funds to the US to avoid paying UK taxes. ®