Labour MP Trevor Mallard is crying foul over a company owned by a Team New Zealand rival getting taxpayer cash.

Warkworth-based firm Core Builder Composites, which is fully owned by Larry Ellison's Oracle Racing, has so far received over $250,000 dollars in growth grants and is line to receive more.

Trevor Mallard is calling the grant questionable saying the government should be backing Kiwi businesses, not mega-wealthy American yachties.

"This is a matter of principle, and if there's an overseas-owned company, a company that does a lot of its research offshore, profits flow offshore and they're focusing on taking jobs out of Auckland."

Mallard argues Core Composites has got itself into a public relations disaster.

"Everyone knows that Larry Ellison owns it. Everyone knows that Larry Ellison doesn't need the money. If I worked for that company, I would be feeling really embarrassed now and I'd be thinking about giving the money back."

Yesterday, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce said the amount of money granted to the company is confidential but is nothing like the $17 million that was quoted elsewhere, and called the figure a fabrication.