The board also affirmed its confidence in van der Heyden continuing on as a director after this month’s annual meeting when he is due to step down as board chairman.
The review, carried out by Jackson, looked into allegations of political interference in last year’s director elections made by Rotorua-based dairy farmer Trevor Hamilton.
He had been a candidate in those elections but was unsuccessful.
Hamilton said a letter he’d received from Jackson, detailing the process to investigate Hamilton’s concerns, showed just how seriously the board had taken the matters he had raised and how serious those matters were.
He said although he knew other issues continued to be raised during these elections, some relating to the candidate assessment panel (CAP) process, he had been heartened by an apparent willingness to move forward with a positive culture that had been shown at a meeting in Ashburton in November.
That meeting had been called by Fonterra chairman-elect and director John Wilson after Hamilton sent his letter to the board.
Hamilton also noted that board members have now repeatedly referred to a more definite date for van der Heyden to step down as a director from the board as being six months prior to the 2013 annual meeting.
On that basis, Hamilton said he did not intend to pursue the matters raised in his affidavit further.
