Audit and Review, Deloitte

U N N E R V I N G ● N E W S

“If Deloitte was caught with one such brazenly egregious case, just what else is there that goes unreported, and undiscovered when it comes to corporate “books”, not only in Brazil but also in the US.”

### zerohedge.com Dec 5, 2016 9:43 PM
Auditor Deloitte Fined A Record $8 Million For Massive Fraud
By Tyler Durden
Remember when auditors were, by their very definition, supposed to be the embodiment of credibility, trustworthiness and moral fibre? The Brazilian arm of Big Four auditing giant, Deloitte, forgot these simple prerequisites and as a result the US auditing watchdog fined the firm a record $8 million for what amounts to massive fraud: falsifying audit reports, altering documents and providing false testimony during an investigation that unearthed what it described as its “most serious” finding of misconduct.
The US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, also penalised or barred 12 former partners, including a national practice director, and auditors of the Brazil-based Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Auditores Independentes.
The Deloitte Brazil case is the first time the PCAOB has “charged a member of the Big Four auditing firms with fraud and for failing to co-operate with an investigation” according to the FT [Financial Times]. Worse, unlike banks which resolve similar cases without admitting or denying guilt, in settling, Deloitte Brazil admitted it had violated quality control standards and failed to co-operate with the auditing board’s inspection and subsequent investigation.
“This is the most serious misconduct we’ve uncovered. It’s cover-up after cover-up after cover-up,” Claudius Modesti, director of enforcement at the PCAOB, said. “As an investor you’re expecting that the audit was done properly and sufficiently and that wasn’t the case here.”
Not only was that not the case, but the details read like straight out of a fictional account of third-world crime.
Read more

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd, commonly referred to as Deloitte, is a UK-incorporated multinational professional services firm with operational headquarters in New York City in the United States.
Deloitte is one of the “Big Four” accounting firms and the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of professionals. Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk and financial advisory services with more than 244,400 professionals globally. In FY 2016, the company earned a record $36.8 billion USD in revenues. As of 2016, Deloitte is the 6th-largest privately owned organisation in the United States.

The Big Four:
● PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), largest accounting firm in terms of revenue.
● Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (Deloitte)
● Ernst & Young (E&Y)
● Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG)

—

OTAGO RUGBY & RACING ASIDE

Remember the old chestnut…. The connection between TTCF (The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd; formerly, The Trusts Charitable Foundation Inc) —and Deloitte.

“TTCF engaged Deloitte when they desperately needed an ‘independent’ audit so as to put the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) and Audit NZ off the scent. Unfortunately, even though Deloitte uncovered approximately $40k per month in mis-spent funds, TTCF ensured that was left out of the report because after all they were paying the Deloitte bill.”

—

Related Post and Comments:
2.6.15 Queen’s Birthday honours to rogues #TTCF #ORFU #PokieRorts
11.3.15 DIA —poor job as gambling regulator
2.2.15 Operation Chestnut: DIA, SFO fluffing round the edges #TTCF #ORFU
11.1.15 Southern complainants: IPCA won’t ensure upfront investigation…
14.12.14 DIA regulates what? Not white collar crime, not with govt looking on!
5.8.14 Gambling Commission shuts down racing’s Bluegrass pokie trust
3.2.14 DIA signed up Intralot amid concerns about bribery and corruption
31.12.13 Martin Legge: Operation Chestnut [DIA’s PR exercise]
30.12.13 DIA insights: Pokie rorts, money-go-rounds, names
11.10.13 New Zealand: Pokie trusts same everywhere #pokierorts
10.10.13 Whistleblowers’ message heard ??! #OtagoRacingClub #pokierorts
1.8.13 Politicians keeping DIA/SFO quiet on ORFU and TTCF #pokierorts
31.3.13 DIA and Office of the Auditor General stuff up bigtime #pokierorts
21.2.13 DIA, SFO investigation #pokierorts
11.11.12 Department of Internal Affairs #pokierorts #coverup #TTCF
25.7.12 Martin Legge backgrounds TTCF (pokie trust) and Portage and Waitakere Licensing Trusts #DIA

█ For more, enter the terms *pokies*, *pokie rorts*, *ttcf*, *orfu* or *dia* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: Deloitte via Wikimedia Commons

Queen’s Birthday honours to rogues #TTCF #ORFU #PokieRorts

### Stuff.co.nz
Last updated 15:04, June 1 2015
Weekes triplets grandfather awarded Queen’s Service Medal for service to community
A Wellington community stalwart, who lost three grandchildren in the Qatar mall fire, has been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. Rod Turner received the Queen’s Service Medal for service to the community, including a long career in the Army and dozens of volunteer organisations. The honour recognised “his leadership and selfless dedication to the community”. Turner spent 22 year in the military, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, before retiring and spending nine years as chief executive of the Children’s Health Camps.
Read more

—

The piece of skirt responsible for funding irregularities* around the Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport [for Professional RUGBY] has claimed a QB Honour. Paperwork showing this fraud is held independently.

ODT: Queen’s Birthday Honours 2015
Members MNZM
Kereyn Maree Smith, Auckland, services to sports governance.

—

More at this ODT Link

—

● The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF Inc) ● The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd (TTCF Ltd) ● Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) ● Professional Rugby ● Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport ● Harness Racing ● Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) ● Gambling Commission ● Pokies ● Rorts ● Organised Crime ● Serious Fraud ● Political Interference

RECEIVED COMMENTARY
Tue, 2 Jun 2015 at 7:45 p.m.

Awards all round for those associated with gambling, pokies, serious audit failings and the negative findings of the NZ Gambling Commission.

Sad as the circumstances are for Ron Turner, he was a TTCF Trustee who approved grants to the Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport in the hope of gaining ORFU’s pokie business after the ORFU had purchased the South Auckland Jokers Bars for about $3 million and so were desperate to align themselves with a pokie trust that would agree to illegally approve all the profits from those bars back to the interests of the ORFU.

The DIA investigated these arrangements and deemed that ORFU had an interest/ownership in the bars and therefore could not receive any proceeds from those bars. Facing potential financial disaster it would appear Kereyn Smith and other cronies associated with the ORFU agreed to front a new trust to counter DIA action.

Ex employees of ORFU, have confirmed that their contracts and pay were suddenly transferred over from the ORFU to the Centre of Excellence. The COE trustees then submitted grant applications to TTCF applying for salaries and costs that had previously been with the ORFU and avoided DIA scrutiny.

According to sources and documents, the very first grant of $500k from TTCF was needed and used for ORFU to meet its financial obligations to complete the purchase of the Jokers Bars and Ms Smith signature appears as sign off for the accountability.

There are serious anomalies which required proper investigation but as we know neither the DIA, the Police, the SFO or this Government are interested in proper investigations. Far easier to hold an award ceremony!!

—

Another TTCF trustee, Warren Flaunty, NZ’s most elected man, was convicted of careless driving after causing the death of a young motor cyclist in West Auckland in 2010.

█ For more, enter the terms *pokies*, *pokie rorts*, *ttcf*, *orfu*, *dia* or *kereyn* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

QB 2014 gongs of ill-repute #Hudson COI = MNZM

(via ODT) Mon, 2 Jun 2014
Southern Queen’s Birthday Awards recipients

Paul Hudson
Dunedin
Services to business and the community
Paul Hudson (65), of Port Chalmers, said that he was “humbled and honoured” for the recognition of his involved with commerce, local government and the community in Dunedin for 50 years.
He worked for Cadbury Fry Hudson between 1973 and 1996 and, as managing director, led Cadbury’s transition to conducting its worldwide business from centralised locations.
He held elected positions on Port Chalmers and Dunedin City Councils between 1980 and 2013, including deputy mayor on both councils.
He was chairman of Dunedin City Holdings, Citibus-Dunedin Transport Ltd and Citiworks, and a board member of City Forests, Aurora Energy and Delta Utility Services.
He was chairman of Dunedin City Holdings for 18 years, when shareholder funds increased from $100,000 to more than $150 million and distributions to Dunedin City Council totalled more than $280 million.
He was council appointee for the Otago Theatre Trust, Dunedin Public Art Gallery Society and its acquisitions committee and the Dunedin Town Hall Organ Trust.
He was appointed treasurer to the Otago branch of the Save the Children Fund 50 years ago. “This was the beginning of my lifelong interest in serving the community.”
The service to the community included work for Port Chalmers Kindergarten, the Aramoana Trust, Regent Theatre, the Otago Arts Society, the Dunedin Council of Social Services and the Dunedin Community House Trust. “My involvement with the establishment of Community House, my early years in Save the Children Fund and various roles and involvement in local government have been very satisfying,” he said.

[ends]

—

DECLARATION
“I, Paul Richard Hudson, do solemnly declare I did not squander ratepayers’ money for the chance to receive specific mention in the freshly minted report of the Office of the Auditor-General’s investigation into Delta (2014). Nor at any time did I place or declare my Conflicts of Interest ahead of my ability to be judge and jury at DCHL and other council-owned companies, so to infuriate Warren Larsen (Report, 2012). I did not personally receive ANYTHING by way of payment for termination of lease of restaurant space in the Municipal Chambers. And, I am not at all obsequious, a fence-sitter — or, make that slimy.” … “Honest.”

—

Related Posts and Comments:
8.11.13 DCHL, long wait for review (Larsen sighs)
23.8.13 New DCHL Chair announced: Graham Crombie
24.7.13 DCC / DCHL shake up !!!
12.7.13 Hudson, DCC (ex DCHL)
7.7.13 DCHL changes lack transparency —where’s the report, Shale?
30.10.12 DCHL ‘run by a bunch of fools’ -agreed
26.10.12 DCHL borrowed $23 million to bail DCC
26.10.12 DCHL: New directors for Aurora, Delta, City Forests
17.10.12 DCC on DCHL, subsidiaries and DCTL
12.10.12 DCHL, subsidiaries and DCTL
30.8.12 Dunedin City Council seen by Fairfax Business Bureau deputy editor Tim Hunter
7.8.12 DCC, DCHL, debt, democracy (and professional rugby)
20.12.11 Delta and the GOBs #DCHL #DCC
28.10.11 DVML, DVL and DCHL annual reports
16.9.11 DCHL and subsidiaries: shuffling, no real clean out?
13.8.11 Ridding DCHL of conflicts of interest, Otago business monopoly ‘by director’, and other ghouls
9.2.11 DCC and DCHL, was there ever any doubt?
7.10.10 The time has come for biffing out
7.7.10 DCC, DCHL, CST, DVML, DVL?
22.10.09 DCHL chief executive replies to critics

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Decisions . . .

Patriot Hawgrider (@dale42860) tweeted at 9:37 PM on Thu, Apr 24, 2014:
pic.twitter.com/Bs18b7LWHs

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Privatising Highlanders involves DCC (ratepayer funds?)

Jeremy Curragh had been appointed by the NZRU to help co-ordinate the sale and would work with Highlanders and NZRU staff to go through the whole process.

### ODT Online Wed, 9 Apr 2014
Rugby: Curragh involved in privatising Highlanders
By Steve Hepburn
The man deeply involved in saving Otago rugby from liquidation a couple of years ago is now helping privatise the Highlanders. The wheels are slowly turning on the Highlanders’ move to private ownership although, as with the other four New Zealand franchises, the New Zealand Rugby Union will retain majority ownership. A local committee, headed by Otago Rugby Football Union chairman Doug Harvie, had also been formed and would provide local input into the process. Included on this committee were representatives from other interested parties such as other provincial unions and local authorities.
Read more

█ Remember Jeremy Curragh’s role in ORFU’s misuse of funds and accounting for the union’s black-tie dinner held at the Stadium ???

—

Related Posts and Comments:
10.2.14 University of Otago major sponsor for Highlanders
11.12.13 Highlanders “Buy Us” entertainment: Obnoxious, noxious PROFESSIONAL RUGBY —stay away DCC !!!
27.5.12 Again: Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]
26.5.12 DIA media release
23.5.12 Latest: Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]
20.5.12 Update: Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]
18.5.12 Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]
11.5.12 Dunedin shootout: mafia bosses
2.5.12 Ratepayers pay for ORFU black tie dinner at stadium
22.4.12 DIA, OAG, TTCF and Otago Rugby swim below the line
29.3.12 Dunedin City Council company sponsors Highlanders
23.5.12 Latest: Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]
20.5.12 Update: Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]
18.5.12 Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]
2.5.12 Ratepayers pay for ORFU black tie dinner at stadium
22.4.12 DIA, OAG, TTCF and Otago Rugby swim below the line
23.3.12 ORFU position
9.3.12 DCC considers writing off ORFU’s $400,000 debt
14.12.11 Davies “in the middle of a conversation” – how to fudge DVML, DCC, ORFU and Highlanders
22.12.09 DCC appoints Highlanders’ Board representative [Kereyn Smith]
16.10.09 Highlanders news [Stuart McLauchlan]
1.7.09 NZRU swings governance of Highlanders
28.5.09 Highlanders board less Farry

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium costs, read uncapped multimillion-dollar LOSSES

Forsyth Barr Stadium critic Russell Garbutt, of Clyde, is not surprised by reports of looming stadium losses.

### ODT Online Wed, 26 Feb 2014
Opinion
Stadium costs predictable, so why the surprise now?
By Russell Garbutt
The ongoing revelations on stadium losses detailed today (ODT, 21.2.14) come as no surprise to anyone who has closely followed this debacle from when the Otago Rugby Football Union first gathered the Carisbrook working party together until now, when a succession of different managers, directors and councillors are all realising that what was promised is as chalk is to cheese.
While not directly specified in the article, the turnaround of an expected $10,000 profit to a $1,400,000 loss in 2014-15 is in the operational budget, and it seems Sir John Hansen, chairman of DVML, is putting most of the blame for this truly stupendous reversal of fortunes down to costs of running the stadium.

While ratepayers continue to face annual injections of over $9 million into the stadium, this is by no means the real figure.

The ”realities” of the real costs of running the stadium are now being recognised, it seems. But let us all just remember a few things that occurred when the stadium was being proposed and then built.
Read more

—

Related Posts and Comments:
11.2.14 Stadium: ‘Business case for DVML temporary seating purchase’
24.1.14 Stadium: It came to pass . . .
20.12.13 DVML: No harassment policy or complaints procedure, really?
3.12.13 DVML issues and rankles [Burden’s reply]
30.11.13 DVML in disarray
18.11.13 DVML: Burden heads to Christchurch #EntirelyPredictable
12.10.13 DVML works media/DCC to spend more ratepayer money
4.10.13 DVML . . . | ‘Make the stadium work’ losses continue
20.8.13 DVML foists invoices on DCC
20.6.13 Stadium: DVML, DVL miserable losers! #grandtheftdebt

For more, enter *dvml* or *stadium* into the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Corruption: US mirror to ministerial meddling in DIA business

● The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF Inc) ● The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd (TTCF Ltd) ● Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) ● Professional Rugby ● Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport ● Harness Racing ● Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) ● Gambling Commission ● Pokies ● Rorts ● Organised Crime ● Serious Fraud ● Political Interference

Published on 13 Feb 2014. The800meters.

Bloomfield Police Chief Position is not for Sale
James Behre, Acting Police Chief in Bloomfield, New Jersey stands up to town council and Mayor regarding political interference. This video is an excerpt from the Town Council meeting on February 10, 2014.

Two days later Bloomfield councilman Carlos Bernard is placed on Administrative leave…

The wider story: Bloomfield councilman asking acting police chief to trade favours to secure appointment as top cop (via NJ.Com)

—

Close to Home
What would this United States police chief say about the least corrupt country in the world? A country where a Minister of Parliament, Peter Dunne, contacts the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) about a pokie trust (TTCF) with which he has had a long association, right at the time that DIA holds evidence sufficient for the head of that regulatory body to suggest the immediate proposal to cancel TTCF’s Gambling Operators Licence.

Would the police chief be concerned that Racing Clubs, the Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) and its intermediary, the Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport, have never been investigated which would result in criminal prosecution and the potential to seek the return of nearly $7 million dollars of community funds from illegal arrangements with TTCF.

Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It hurts everyone whose life, livelihood or happiness depends on the integrity of people in a position of authority.

For more information, enter *dia*, *dunne*, *ttcf*, *orfu*, or *pokies* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Peter Dunne, undone

● The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF Inc) ● The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd (TTCF Ltd) ● Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) ● Professional Rugby ● Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport ● Harness Racing ● Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) ● Gambling Commission ● Pokies ● Rorts ● Organised Crime ● Serious Fraud ● Political Interference

Fairfax Media journalist Andrea Vance broke the story.

### stuff.co.nz June 7 2013, updated 6:25pm
Dunne: I considered leaking, but didn’t
United Future founder resigns as Government Minister after the release of a report into the leaking of a GCSB review.
| Read the leak report | Read the GCSB review | United Future deregistered | Photos | Video

—

### ODT Online Fri, 7 Jun 2013
Dunne resigns as minister
By Claire Trevett – NZ Herald
United Future leader Peter Dunne has resigned as a Minister after he was found to have withheld information from an inquiry into a leak of a GCSB report.
Read more

Mr Key said he had told Mr Dunne he was “very shocked” by the Henry [GCSB] report.

Related Posts and Comments:
11.2.13 Recognising whistleblowers
24.1.13 Pike River, Department of Internal Affairs #skippingthebusiness
30.12.12 Internal Affairs is a whole other planet #whitecollarcrime #DIArorts
18.11.12 Martin Legge: DIA audit criticism #pokierorts #coverup
11.11.12 Department of Internal Affairs #pokierorts #coverup #TTCF
3.10.12 DScene: Russell Garbutt seeks DIA file to Crown Law #pokierorts
15.8.12 Keeping ORFU sweet [email]
29.5.12 Asset sales (remember the days)
19.4.12 Auckland convention centre and 500 new gaming machines, or Hillside?
26.10.11 2011 Voices of Poverty: Research into poverty in Dunedin
5.3.10 Another National bugle boy: Dunne on stadium

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Martin Legge replies to Sunday Star-Times story #DIA #coverup

### Sunday Star-Times Sun, 11 Nov 2012
Pokie man stopped from rort inquiries
By Steve Kilgallon
A senior Internal Affairs investigator says he was prevented from probing pokie rorts by his own department because it did not have the confidence to prosecute major crimes. Dave Bermingham, an investigator and analyst who left the department in August, said Internal Affairs was incompetent and should be stripped of its role investigating gaming machine fraud. {continues}
*No weblink available. Full text reproduced at post.

Comment received from Martin Legge
Tuesday, 13 November 2012 11:37 a.m.

Tony Molloy QC had this to say about a Government Regulator after his enquiry into the collapse of the finance industry:

“The destruction of billions of dollars of ma and pa retail wealth, through finance company meltdowns was the inevitable consequences of at least three decades of unreadiness, unwillingness and inability of regulators, enforcers, courts, lawyers and accountants to fulfil their roles with integrity.”

The Commission of Enquiry into The Pike River Disaster had this to say about another Government Regulator, the Department of Labour:

“DOL’s compliance strategy did not require an assessment of Pike’s safety and operational information. The inspectors did not have a system, training or time to do so. When, at the hearings, they were shown examples of safety information obtained by the commission from Pike’s records, the inspectors were visibly dismayed. This was not a case of individual fault, but of departmental failure to resource, manage and adequately support a diminished mining inspectorate.

DOL’s main public accountability documents, the statements of intent and annual reports to Parliament, did not reveal any concern about DOL’s ability to administer the health and safety legislation. The statements of intent and the annual reports contained many high-level statements on outcomes and outputs but it was impossible to gain much insight into the performance of the mining inspectorate, or the health and safety inspectors as a whole. Measures used, such as the raw numbers of investigations carried out by the health and safety inspectorate, were not informative.

The gap between the high-level statements in those documents and the reality on the ground was remarkable.”

Maarten Quivooy was the NZ Safety Manager at the DOL over this period but left DOL to become DIA’s head of Gambling Compliance. When the Sunday Star-Times put the allegations of cover ups and closing down of investigations within the pokie industry which he now oversees he had this to say:

“They do their investigation work to the best of their ability and from their perspective it can seem like it goes into a black hole but it has had active and thorough scrutiny by senior management.”

His comments suggest that the “remarkable gap” between high level statements and reality is now opening up within DIA !!!

To comfort the public and Politicians, Quivooy is quick to claim their investigation into TTCF was reviewed by Office of the Auditor General. What he doesn’t tell the public is that in July 2009, over the same period that Bermingham and DIA investigators were conducting their investigations into TTCF, Audit NZ was conducting its own independent and statutory audit of TTCF, as a public entity. That audit also found serious issues involving expenditure but neither Audit NZ or its parent body (OAG) took action or followed up on the findings at the time. DIA and OAG only bounced into life when I appeared as a “whistleblower” in October 2010.

OAG have never given me a satisfactory explanation as to why they didn’t immediately act or follow up to protect millions of dollars of public money but their own failure to act might explain why OAG have been so willing to endorse the DIA investigation that I have labelled a whitewash and Bermingham recently describes as a cover up.

A case of two well- resourced government regulators sticking together to avoid embarrassment.

[ends]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Department of Internal Affairs #pokierorts #coverup #TTCF

● The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF Inc) ● The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd (TTCF Ltd) ● Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) ● Professional Rugby ● Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport ● Harness Racing ● Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) ● Gambling Commission ● Pokies ● Rorts ● Organised Crime ● Serious Fraud ● Political Interference

*Weblink not available at stuff.co.nz
The following text in the print edition of today’s Sunday Star-Times (page A6) has been scanned, in the public interest. This post will be updated when a link appears.

—

### Sunday Star-Times Sun, 11 Nov 2012
Pokie man stopped from rort inquiries
By Steve Kilgallon
A senior Internal Affairs investigator says he was prevented from probing pokie rorts by his own department because it did not have the confidence to prosecute major crimes.
Dave Bermingham, an investigator and analyst who left the department in August, said Internal Affairs was incompetent and should be stripped of its role investigating gaming machine fraud.
Bermingham’s claims will be discussed in Parliament, with the Greens’ Internal Affairs spokeswoman Denise Roche prepared to table questions about the department’s behaviour. “They had no appetite for the [gaming] industry and they don’t understand it,” said Bermingham, a former fraud squad policeman.
“There are very clever people committing frauds… and a government agency which takes little or no action and wants to treat it as regulation and compliance. When investigators identified serious breaches of the Gaming Act, they were unsupported and stifled and their investigations [were] watered down, or just, over time, vanished.”
Bermingham said pokie scams revealed in the Star-Times over the past five years were just the “tip of the iceberg: some pokie trusts have been allowed to get away with blatant theft and dishonesty”.
For two years from 2008, Bermingham compiled several investigation reports into a controversial pokie trust, The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF), and recommended serious sanctions, and even criminal action, be taken.
The case was later taken off him, and either no action taken or minor penalties issued.
When the case was reopened this year following Star-Times stories, Bermingham wasn’t asked for help. Instead, he says: “A senior manager here made a statement to me that he had been told to make the thing go away.
“I suspected it was a semi-flippant comment, but as it transpires, that’s what they have done. I was the person who knew the most information about the whole thing, but they deliberately never talked to me about it.”
Former TTCF contractor Martin Legge, who first brought the TTCF story to light, said Bermingham’s revelations were “further proof that the investigation into The Trusts Community Foundation was a cover-up. Internal Affairs are being dictated to by pokie trusts and protecting their interests above those of the community.”
After he filed his “damning” reports into TTCF, Bermingham said he was flown almost daily to Wellington to discuss them. Then suddenly he was shut out. “I accept you can’t always lay charges, but there are other avenues that can be taken. But the appetite was not there to act.”
Bermingham said he became increasingly frustrated and accepted redundancy in a reshuffle.
“The department has some very clever people who know how to follow the money, and they get stopped and everyone becomes deflated and stops looking.”
He said constant lobbying by politicians in specific cases had also made DIA gun-shy. Questions asked of the department by Revenue Minister Peter Dunne around the TTCF case had helped kill it, he said. “The mere questioning seemed to cause the department to go gun-shy and shut things down. Management fear for their careers; they would rather take no action, make no decision so they are not criticised.”
Just before leaving Internal Affairs, Bermingham conducted a detailed study of where TTCF gave grants, and discovered a huge flow of money from North Island poker machines into South Island racing clubs, but was told not to progress to the next stage.
Internal Affairs boss Maarten Quivooy denied managers had been told to shut down the TTCF inquiry.
He said decisions not to prosecute were rigorously tested with Crown Law while the TTCF inquiry had been examined by the auditor-general.
But he said he understood Bermingham’s frustrations.
“If you look from the perspective of a frontline inspector, that can sometimes be their experience,” Quivooy said. “They do their investigation work to the best of their ability and, from their perspective, it can look like it has gone into a black hole. But it has had active and thorough scrutiny and consideration by senior management.
“We can do better how we communicate that to staff and how we provide feedback.”
Graeme Ramsey, chief executive of the Problem Gambling Foundation, said despite a long history of rorts, there had yet to be a prosecution of a gaming trust trustee.

Who is Maarten Quivooy? See comment.

—

Sunday Star-Times:
29.4.12 Steve Kilgallon Case closed without call to whistleblower
22.4.12 Steve Kilgallon The inside man

—

Related Posts:
26.10.12 Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) – CULPABLE #pokierorts
24.10.12 Bad press for ORFU -NZ Herald
3.10.12 DScene: Russell Garbutt seeks DIA file to Crown Law #PokieRorts
1.10.12 Apology requested from ORFU [email]
15.9.12 Martin Legge responds to NZ Herald news
27.8.12 DIA’s political cover-up of TTCF and ORFU rorts
22.8.12 Martin Legge releases emails to Dunedin community #ORFU
15.8.12 Keeping ORFU sweet [email]
12.8.12 DIA reshuffle: new investigation teams, money laundering, criticism
28.7.12 Pokie fraud: ODT fails to notice own backyard
25.7.12 Martin Legge backgrounds TTCF (pokie trust) and Portage and Waitakere Licensing Trusts #DIA
24.7.12 Mention in NZ Herald dispatches: TTCF and friends ORFU
15.7.12 Martin Legge responds to media stories on Murray Acklin, TTCF and DIA
26.6.12 Department of Internal Affairs, ORFU, Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport, and TTCF
22.6.12 Connections: ORFU and local harness racing
22.6.12 ORFU board responsibility for black-tie dinner bill [emails]
5.6.12 The Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill
4.6.12 Questions: ORFU and the Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport
26.5.12 DIA media release
23.5.12 NZRU-appointed change manager talks
29.4.12 Department of Internal Affairs, the gambling authority
22.4.12 DIA, OAG, TTCF and Otago Rugby swim below the line

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DScene: Russell Garbutt seeks DIA file to Crown Law #pokierorts

● The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF Inc) ● The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd (TTCF Ltd) ● Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) ● Professional Rugby ● Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport ● Harness Racing ● Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) ● Gambling Commission ● Pokies ● Rorts ● Organised Crime ● Serious Fraud ● Political Interference

### DScene 3 Oct 2012 (page 3)
DIA says no wrongdoing
By Wilma McCorkindale
Dunedin man Russell Garbutt questions the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) investigations into alleged pokie rorts involving Otago sporting organisations. Garbutt, a former chairman of Sport Otago, said the DIA told him at a meeting in Wellington earlier this year it had a major investigation under way into an alleged series of complicated transactions allegedly directing pokie funds through an organisation called the Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport.

“It is abundantly clear, in my view, the Centre of Excellence was operating for the ORFU,” Garbutt said.

Related pokie grants were administered by The Trusts Charitable Foundation. It has since been revealed the [Centre of Excellence] was applying for grants [funded] by pokies at certain Auckland bars on behalf of the Otago Rugby Football Union. It was also revealed the ORFU had interests in the bars.

“If the DIA is going to prosecute, it has to go to Crown Law. Crown Law is saying there’s insufficient evidence to prosecute. I’m saying let’s see the evidence, let’s see the file they produced to Crown Law, and see if [the DIA] produced all of the evidence that was supplied to them. What is the basis by which Crown Law says there is insufficient evidence?”
{continues} #bookmark

Register to read DScene online at
http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

ODT preamble on Davies story

UPDATED POST 30.9.12

Released via Twitter.

### ODT Online Sat, 29 Sep 2012
Stadium boss fires some parting shots
David Davies is a happy yet frustrated man. The former Dunedin Venues Management Ltd chief executive has ended nearly three years as the public face of the Forsyth Barr Stadium, but not before firing some parting shots in an exclusive interview with Otago Daily Times reporter Chris Morris. He has precious memories of his time in Dunedin, insisting the city would – in time – be convinced one of the most controversial projects in its history was worth it. But Mr Davies admitted to “mixed feelings” about the results of his time at DVML, and urged the city to do more to work together if its citizens wanted to make the most of the stadium.

For the full story, buy today’s Otago Daily Times.
ODT Link

****

Former Dunedin Venues Management Ltd chief executive David Davies is winging his way back to England after firing some parting shots in the Forsyth Barr Stadium debate. He gave his final interview to reporter Chris Morris.

### ODT Online Sun, 30 Sep 2012
Promises, politics and the stadium
By Chris Morris
David Davies is flying home a happy yet frustrated man. The former Dunedin Venues Management Ltd chief executive last night boarded a plane for England, ending nearly three years as the public face of the Forsyth Barr Stadium.[…]Since arriving, Mr Davies said, he had confronted unrealistic promises and expectations about the venue, a flawed funding model and, in some cases, a lack of political will to do what was needed. “I came here to do a job I have never been able to do, for various political reasons. I go back happy with my time here, but disappointed that I wasn’t allowed to do the job that I was recruited to do.”[…]The details of any settlement package with Mr Davies were not yet known, and he was coy when asked about his future.
Read more

### ODT Online Sun, 30 Sep 2012
Chin: no regrets; Cull: need lure
By Chris Morris
Former Dunedin mayor Peter Chin rejects claims Forsyth Barr Stadium was oversold and says he has no regrets over the decision to build it. However, the man who replaced him as mayor, Dave Cull, has reiterated his belief the stadium model was designed “to convince people to build it”, and says changes are needed. That could include a new events fund to pay incentives to lure promoters to Dunedin, which would be considered as part of the review of the stadium and Dunedin Venues Management Ltd.
Read more

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DIA’s political cover-up of TTCF and ORFU rorts

● The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF Inc) ● The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd (TTCF Ltd) ● Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) ● Professional Rugby ● Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport ● Harness Racing ● Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) ● Gambling Commission ● Pokies ● Rorts ● Organised Crime ● Serious Fraud ● Political Interference

“In the course of finalising the recovery package for the Otago Rugby Football Union, the NZRU became aware of potential issues relating to funds obtained by the union from gaming trusts,” public affairs general manager Nick Brown said.

### ODT Online Mon, 27 Aug 2012
ORFU pokie papers withheld
By Hamish McNeilly
Confidential documents relating to the Otago Rugby Football Union’s involvement with pokies are being withheld by the Department of Internal Affairs. The department declined an Official Information Act request to release the New Zealand Rugby Union-supplied documents on the grounds it “would be likely to prejudice the supply of similar information”. The Otago Daily Times has lodged a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsmen seeking the release of the information, citing public interest.
Read more

See related comments and discussion at Keeping ORFU sweet [email]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Martin Legge releases emails to Dunedin community #ORFU

● The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF Inc) ● The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd (TTCF Ltd) ● Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) ● Professional Rugby ● Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport ● Harness Racing ● Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) ● Gambling Commission ● Pokies ● Rorts ● Organised Crime ● Serious Fraud ● Political Interference

Comment received.

Martin Legge
Submitted on 2012/08/22 at 9:58 pm

I am very concerned about what Gambling Director, Maarten Quivooy is representing to the Dunedin Community.

Mr Quivooy claims to have no jurisdiction to investigate ORFU and the Centre of Excellence. He is playing you for fools – making you all believe that those two groups were your standard grant applicants just like Plunket, a local Kindergarten or some other worthy community group entitled to apply to TTCF for grants. Nothing is further from the truth.

The DIA have over many years, spent countless investigation hours, watching the abnormal money flow from South Auckland to Otago, always trying to prove ORFU’s interest in the Jokers Bars and hold those accountable. As was told to me, my testimony and documents provided the missing link for DIA.

The internal TTCF 2005 email between Hodder and the TTCF Trustees (in previous post) is pretty clear about the deal with Jokers. It refers to changes with the Jokers bars and that ORFU and Harness racing now each have a share in those bars and what each groups expectation is from the bars. There are more emails and DIA were provided with them in 2010.

This email makes it reasonably clear that ORFU did indeed have an “ownership” or “interest” in Jokers but it now seems DIA are the only ones who chose to ignore their previous concerns. Why you may ask?

Because any proof of “ownership” or “interest” in the Jokers pokie bars significantly changes things – it elevates ORFU into the legal definition of being a class 4 Venue Operator, over which DIA does have jurisdiction and a statutory obligation to act.

Even if TTCF Inc and Centre of Excellence no longer exist as entities it does not prevent DIA from holding TTCF’s Trustees to account for allowing what has occurred.
Read more + Emails

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Related Post and Comments:
15.8.12 Keeping ORFU sweet [email]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Pokie fraud: ODT fails to notice own backyard

● The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF Inc) ● The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd (TTCF Ltd) ● Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) ● Professional Rugby ● Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport ● Harness Racing ● Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) ● Gambling Commission ● Pokies ● Rorts ● Organised Crime ● Serious Fraud ● Political Interference

The newspaper had better start naming names.

### ODT Online Sat, 28 Jul 2012
Editorial: Poker machine proceeds
Hundreds of millions of coins rattle through poker machines in New Zealand pubs each year. A proportion of those coins pour back out of the pokies to be scooped up by punters delighted to receive an instant return on a risky investment. The rest tumble into the Government’s tax coffers and the vaults of gaming trusts which then get to decide how they are distributed.

It is no wonder that, when some industry figures allege endemic noncompliance and outright corruption in the pokie business, many are willing to listen. And while such sweeping statements inevitably tarnish honest operators, there has long been, at the very least, the whiff of questionable decision-making involving some trusts.

In the South, one trust had its licence suspended for five days after spending money on venue fit-outs for high-returning sites. In other cases, legislative roadblocks appear to have been simply driven around. There have been examples in the past of organisations that, having failed to set up their own pokie trust, have entered a relationship with an existing trust and got money that way.

Hearings on Mr Flavell’s Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill are slated to begin next month. Lawmakers will face strident views from camps on both sides. They clearly have some serious thinking to do.
Read more

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Related Posts:
25.7.12 Martin Legge backgrounds TTCF (pokie trust) and Portage and Waitakere Licensing Trusts #DIA
24.7.12 Mention in NZ Herald dispatches: TTCF and friends ORFU [David Fisher]
15.7.12 Martin Legge responds to media stories on Murray Acklin, TTCF and DIA
13.7.12 We know exactly where ORFU has been. It’s locked there. It’s not over.
26.6.12 Department of Internal Affairs, ORFU, Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport, and TTCF [Russell Garbutt]
22.6.12 Connections: ORFU and local harness racing [Martin Legge]
20.6.12 Mayor Cull leaves the planet [Russell Garbutt]
4.6.12 Questions: ORFU and the Centre for Excellence in Amateur Sport [Russell Garbutt]
26.5.12 DIA media release
22.5.12 Join ORFU board, without forensic audit to show how millions went west?
29.4.12 Department of Internal Affairs, the gambling authority
22.4.12 DIA, OAG, TTCF and Otago Rugby swim below the line [Martin Legge / Steve Kilgallon]

—

Media Links:
14.7.12 NZ Herald Watchdog: Pokie checks not up to mark
25.6.12 Sunday Star Times Richard Boock (Sunday Star Times 24/6/12) on pokie funding of sport
20.6.12 D Scene – ORFU $480k debt deal stays #bookmark Register
2.6.12 ODT Determined to clean up sector
2.6.12 ODT Internal affairs to investigate ORFU, pokies
2.6.12 ODT MP’s query sees ‘all hell’ break loose
29.5.12 ODT Rugby: Financial troubleshooter warns job not over
23.5.12 ODT Grants meant for amateur rugby used to pay ORFU creditors
3.5.12 Sunday Star Times/Stuff Stadium plans met with scorn [‘Stadium builds under fire – sport’]
3.5.12 ODT Dinner profits went on day-to-day costs
1.5.12 ODT Small creditors get their money back from ORFU
23.4.12 The Standard Gaming industry whistleblower
22.4.12 Sunday Star Times/Stuff The inside man

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Mention in NZ Herald dispatches: TTCF and friends ORFU

“People have not been shy about what is going on. It is the trusts that are doing the dicey stuff.” -Te Ururoa Flavell

### nzherald.co.nz 5:30 AM Tuesday Jul 24, 2012
MP keeps heat on pokie trusts
By David Fisher
Pokie trusts are lining up to return greater cash payments to the community as proposed new gaming legislation puts the entire industry under threat. Cuts are anticipated to the trustee payments with the amount spent on administration also expected to drop. The trusts have to return a minimum 37.12 per cent of their income to the community, with a handful providing as much as 63 per cent. But Department of Internal Affairs figures show many fail to rise much above the legal minimum return.

Select committee hearings are expected this year on proposed legislation put forward by Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell. His proposed bill would dismantle gaming trusts, put councils in charge of distributing grants and require 80 per cent of money to go back to the community.

Mr Flavell said the publicity around the proposed bill had led to a great deal of information about their operation being sent to him. He said there were trusts distributing pokie proceeds which observed the rules but others “would hang themselves on how they operate”.
Read more

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Media Link:
(this one should be hurting DIA and Martin Quivooy)
14.7.12 NZ Herald – Watchdog: Pokie checks not up to mark

Related Post:
15.7.12 Martin Legge responds to media stories on Murray Acklin, TTCF and DIA

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Martin Legge responds to media stories on Murray Acklin, TTCF and DIA

● The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF Inc) ● The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd (TTCF Ltd) ● Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) ● Professional Rugby ● Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport ● Harness Racing ● Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) ● Gambling Commission ● Pokies ● Rorts ● Organised Crime ● Serious Fraud ● Political Interference

Updated post July 16, 2012 · 3:14 pm

ODT reporter Hamish McNeilly had a story published on Saturday (14 July), ‘$425,000 fee not recovered’. He said: “The Department of Internal Affairs was “unable” to recover more than $400,000 paid to a Queenstown-based pokies’ trustee. In his role as “executive trustee with special responsibilities” Murray Acklin was paid $425,254 by The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF), between April 2006 and March 2009. He later resigned from the position, on the advice of the department, but remains a trustee. Following an investigation the department suspended the trust’s licence for two days as its expenditure, including that paid to Mr Acklin, was “considered to be excessive and not reasonable or necessary to the gambling operation”. That suspension was increased to five days after the trust took an appeal to the Gambling Commission.” Read more

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Martin Legge
Submitted on 2012/07/15 at 12:01 pm

Re ODT article about Murray Acklin reported above re $425k

You’d be forgiven for thinking Acklin was responsible for raising $6.9 million for the community. Acklin did not raise one cent for the community but simply enticed the transfer of existing pokie bars over to TTCF so he and his fellow trustees could give most of it to racing and ORFU, that is what he was paid for.

Senior DIA Management held a meeting with TTCF Chairman, Malcolm McElrea of Balclutha in late 2009 following the results of a number of serious investigations into TTCF which included the unlawful payment of $1.2 million to a company associated with the Portage and Waitakere Licensing Trusts, the $425k payment to Mr Acklin and the promise of pokie grants and TAB upgrades to secure pubs. At that meeting DIA expressed a strong desire that Acklin resign his position as Trustee.

So here is the question for Mr Quivooy and DIA. Why, in June 2010, only weeks after the Gambling Commission decision and 8 months after the above meeting and without even attempting to recover any of the $425k or $1.2 million, was DIA able to “sufficiently satisfy” itself (in accordance with its statutory obligations – yes, that is the wording of the legislation – “satisfy”), that they should grant a new gaming operators licence to TTCF Ltd allowing the same trustees (including Mr Acklin) to all become Directors effectively permitting them to continue to grant millions to racing and ORFU???

Gaming industry whistleblower Martin Legge is a former detective and police prosecutor, TTCF contractor, and DIA senior inspector gaming compliance. He continues to expose the system and the players.

—

NZ Herald reporter David Fisher has his story published the same day, ‘Watchdog: Pokie checks not up to mark’, lobbing attack at the Department of Internal Affairs for incomplete sloppy work, seemingly carried out to avoid prosecutions. He says: “The public servant charged with regulating the gambling industry has described his department’s capacity and capability as not being fully up to the mark. In an email to an informant, Maarten Quivooy of the Department of Internal Affairs also wrote that “our practice isn’t always as sharp as we would want it to be”. The comments were made in letters to former Otago Sport chairman Russell Garbutt, who spent years raising concerns about grants from a gaming trust which took money from pokie machines in the North Island and paid it out in the South Island. The complaints appeared to go nowhere until eight weeks ago when the department said it shared his concerns but had run out of time to do anything about it.” Read more

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Martin Legge
Submitted on 2012/07/14 at 7:06 pm

Maarten Quivooy says DIA don’t have the capacity to regulate the gaming industry and blames it on the legislation. How can he blame the legislation when his department rarely tests it? How does he have the gall to say that they can’t do anything because the statute of limitations prevents action – when it is DIA’s own inaction that allows these crooked trusts to get off because DIA do absolutely nothing within the 2-year prosecutorial limit but not only that, they continue to re-licence them year in, year out. From my evidence from the last 5 years at least, the DIA senior management and past and present Internal Affairs Ministers have not only turned a blind eye to offences, but have interfered on behalf of pokie trusts who have lobbied them. Coal face inspectors (the ones who don’t kow-tow to their bosses) leave the DIA in frustration after doing thorough and enforceable investigations that get quashed. The silence of politicians other than the Greens and Flavell over the appalling state of the gaming sector is deafening. What Quivooy told Russell Garbutt is at odds with my own response from Quivooy that stated DIA “had conducted a robust and thorough enquiry” into my numerous complaints, many of which they now state publicly that they are “continuing to investigate, re-investigate, audit, re-audit” and I still haven’t been contacted! Thank goodness for the media. If Quivooy was a senior Police Officer and made that kind of admission to a member of the public or in the media, a national enquiry would be called for and the Police Complaints Authority would be all over him.

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Media Links:
25.6.12 http://itsabigfatlie.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/richard-boock-sunday-star-times-24612.html
2.6.12 http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/211666/determined-clean-sector
2.6.12 http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/211669/internal-affairs-investigate-orfu-pokies
2.6.12 http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/211671/mps-query-sees-all-hell-break-loose
29.5.12 http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/211018/rugby-financial-troubleshooter-warns-job-not-over
23.5.12 http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/210293/grants-meant-amateur-rugby-used-pay-orfu-creditors
3.5.12 http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/7038067/Stadium-plans-met-with-scorn
3.5.12 http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/207787/dinner-profits-went-day-day-costs
2.5.12 http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/207653/orfu-unpaid-bill-obscene
1.5.12 http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/207473/small-creditors-get-their-money-back-orfu
23.4.12 http://thestandard.org.nz/gaming-industry-whistleblower/
22.4.12 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/6785852/The-inside-man

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

We know exactly where ORFU has been. It’s locked there. It’s not over.

“The analogy that I’ve been using is it is almost like we are starting from scratch.” -Kinley

There will be no starting from scratch until ORFU and related entities are fully investigated by forensic audit.

ORFU is currently implicated in a Department of Internal Affairs investigation for pokie fraud, tied to The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd and The Trusts Charitable Foundation (Inc).

—

### ODT Online Fri, 13 Jul 2012
Rugby: ORFU head ‘starting from scratch’
By Adrian Seconi
New Otago Rugby Football Union general manager Richard Kinley has a clear idea where he wants to lead the organisation. The ORFU board yesterday announced the 45-year-old would fill the role left vacant by Richard Reid. Officially, Kinley assumes the role on August 13 but he has already had his feet under the table for the past six weeks.

“We can’t forget about the history and we can learn from the past, but it is about moving forward.” -Kinley

Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Department of Internal Affairs, ORFU, Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport, and TTCF

Comment received.

Russell Garbutt
Submitted on 2012/06/26 at 8:38 am

I don’t think that many people realise the significance of the material that Martin Legge has in his possession regarding the activities of the Otago Rugby Football Union, the Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport and The Trusts Charitable Foundation.

People who have examined the Acklin budget published on this site may not realise the significance of this particular document, but suffice to say that setting up the machinery and entities so that the proceeds from pokie funds can find their way to activities involving professional sport are illegal. Amongst other things.

What is most significant to me is the unwillingness of DIA to actually do their job. While I have been assured personally by Mr Maarten Quivooy of DIA that they take their roles and responsibilities seriously, it is simply unbelievable that the DIA did not pursue what was, and still is, being offered up to them in terms of hard evidence of illegal activities. They are under no misapprehension of what my views of their investigations are.

The “new” evidence that I have offered to the DIA for the most part is evidence that either was in the public domain – eg the email trail involving Mr Curragh who admitted to using pokie funds generated for one purpose for other purposes – or was simple to obtain. One example of the latter is [from] one former employee of the ORFU who has clear evidence of how the Centre of Excellence and the ORFU conspired to ensure that the trail of pokie funds was obscured. That type of evidence was, as I say, simple to obtain and reporters also have knowledge of that evidence as an example.

Some questions need to be asked by everyone of the DIA as to whether they were “persuaded” not to pursue certain lines of enquiry. Is it true for example as has been reported, that a senior MP had an undue influence on whether the Department did their job? Others need to be asked about the lack of accountability within DIA for ineptness, unwillingness to pursue matters and apparent willingness to accept the pathetic responses of people who were intimately involved with rorts, fraud and other illegal activities. The DIA has stated on more than one occasion that the whole setup in Dunedin “smelled” and the parties “got away with it”.

I believe that the DIA even now should meet Mr Legge to explain why they failed to act in light of overwhelming evidence of illegality and I think that it would be extremely valuable if Mr Legge would post his evidence of how this particular scheme worked.

The DIA say that they now have a major investigation underway but cannot or will not let anyone know the subject of that investigation. Mr Legge has, in the past, been told that his evidence was so good that a slamdunk prosecution was imminent. What happened? Nothing.

I look forward to seeing a more widespread knowledge of how these people in our community did what they did.

—

Related Post:
22.6.12 Connections: ORFU and local harness racing

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Connections: ORFU and local harness racing

Pokie Fraud:
Department of Internal Affairs Investigates New Information

Comment received.

Martin Legge
Submitted on 2012/06/21 at 10:07 am

What is going on within DIA? They fly Mr Garbutt to Wellington (at tax payer expense) for a visit and now they are considering fresh information. I am the person who blew the whistle on all of this, still hold all the correspondence relating to the ORFU deal and am aware of personnel that can verify the documents and what went on between TTCF, ORFU and The Centre of Excellence and yet I have not been spoken to – I only live one hour up the road from Mr Quivooy’s office!

Your readers may recall that SST and the ODT both referred to the handwritten budget supplied to me by TTCF trustee Murray Acklin that essentially divvied up every cent of pokie money from the South Auckland Jokers Bars to ORFU and Harness Racing (who had entered into a deal with ORFU). Mr Acklin told both SST and ODT “he doesn’t recall the budget document” – which begs the question of DIA – has he or the other trustees ever been shown this significant piece of evidence as part of DIA’s inquiry? I suspect not because there is one other thing that I do know and that will concern readers – 4 of the 5 TTCF trustees refused interviews with DIA into this and other serious matters back in 2010 and DIA have been satisfied with that ever since!

Funding office staff were required to work exclusively off that budget and there is a clear paper trail of it being met. All TTCF trustees were complicit to it and approved all the grants to ORFU and COE as they came in and even after 2006, TTCF Inc and Ltd continued to approve large grants to ORFU interests while ORFU still had a stake in the Jokers Bars. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

Be aware Mr Garbutt, I was told 2 years ago that DIA were all over this and they were preparing matters to put before the Gambling Commission. None of that happened and no action was taken.

In fairness to Mr Quivooy he wasn’t in the job back then but he was given the opportunity to review the ORFU/TTCF investigation file in March of this year but he advised at that time the investigation and report were robust and he was satisfied with it. I suspect he has been ill advised and is in damage control as his recent comments and meeting with Mr Garbutt suggest that his previous sentiments were wrong.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Questions: ORFU and the Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport

Comment received.

Russell Garbutt
Submitted on 2012/06/04 at 7:25 pm

Time for some more connections to be made by Hamish McNeilly [Otago Daily Times] as to the goings on of the ORFU.

For a starter, it would be really advantageous to look closely at a strange little outfit called the Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport. Now wound up after a bit of attention was paid to it, some interesting questions Mr McNeilly could ask of say, John Spicer and Ron Palenski for starters and then they could always go to Kereyn Smith who was a fellow Director, could include – just why was this little company employing people solely working for the ORFU? Did they apply for pokie funds from TTCF? What were those funds used for? Just why did Martin Legge point out that the Centre of Excellence was nothing other than a front for the ORFU? Why was TTCF told to just hide any applications from the Centre of Excellence? Whose name was on those applications? Did this person making these applications for the Centre actually work for the ORFU at the time? Has this person refused to discuss these matters with anyone? Is he now working for the City?

Some other questions that the erstwhile Mr McNeilly could ask Maarten Quivooy of DIA could include – is he confident that the staff of DIA conducted a professional and rigorous examination of the Centre of Excellence, the ORFU and TTCF in, and from 2008? Does Mr Quivooy concur with his staff’s comments that the whole setup with these three entities “was quite smelly”? Does Mr Quivooy also concur with his staff’s comments that the ORFU and the Centre of Excellence got away with diddling the public?

Finally, would Mr McNeilly care to write a further article on just how the whole deal actually worked including naming those people at the centre of this rort? Would the ODT be game enough to publish?

—

Stories by Hamish McNeilly
ODT 2.6.12
● Internal affairs to investigate ORFU, pokies
● MP’s query sees ‘all hell’ break loose
● Determined to clean up gambling industry

—

Related Posts and Comments:
27.5.12 Again: Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]
26.5.12 DIA media release
23.5.12 Latest: Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]
20.5.12 Update: Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]
18.5.12 Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]
11.5.12 Dunedin shootout: mafia bosses
2.5.12 Ratepayers pay for ORFU black tie dinner at stadium
1.5.12 ORFU’s draft constitution
29.4.12 Department of Internal Affairs, the gambling authority
22.4.12 DIA, OAG, TTCF and Otago Rugby swim below the line
31.3.12 Rob Hamlin: The ORFU’s small creditors: If I was one of them…
23.3.12 ORFU position
15.3.12 Message To ORFU Creditors, if you want to see your money
9.3.12 DCC considers writing off ORFU’s $400,000 debt
2.3.12 Demand a full independent forensic audit of ORFU

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Join ORFU board, without forensic audit to show how millions went west?

The Otago Daily Times believes the two members from the old board will be Andrew Rooney and John Faulks.

### ODT Online Tue, 22 May 2012
2 ORFU members retained?
By Steve Hepburn
The new board of the Otago Rugby Football Union is expected to be named today and is likely to include two faces from the old board. The six-member board was to have been named last Tuesday but legal issues and a short period to interview applicants and make appointments forced an extension.
Read more

—

[Eionland connections]

The six-member board?

● Andrew Rooney (Dunedin investment adviser, Forsyth Barr; Air Force Liaison Officer, Otago Region; former Engineering Officer, RNZAF; past chairman, Dunedin Rugby Football Club)

● John Faulks (Dunedin managing director S R M Realty Ltd – Southern Wide Real Estate; previously stock and station and banking industries; coached Otago junior age group teams)

● Simon Spark (Arrowtown self-employed contractor/linesman; co-owner of Dakins Waste Solutions Ltd; Arrowtown club president; news; Mr Nice Guy 2011)

● Keith Cooper (Dunedin chief executive, Silver Fern Farms)

● Doug Harvie (Dunedin chartered accountant, Harvie Green Wyatt)

● Kelvin Collins (Queenstown real estate agency owner, Harcourts; links with Wakatipu club)

Or simply ask ORFU change manager Jeremy Curragh about the trust monies that will need to be refunded as they weren’t spent on the authorised purpose; this “happened on a number of occasions due to ORFU facing cashflow problems”. He says “The money is not “missing” rather it was used to pay other creditors.” Link

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Department of Internal Affairs, the gambling authority

Comment received.

Russell Garbutt
2012/04/29 at 3:54 pm

Doesn’t it seem incredible that the DIA, when presented with an enquiry that on the surface appears to be more than dodgy, chooses to get a local investigator to phone one of the people involved, that investigator issues a warning to that person that things are being looked at for any future applications, chooses not to follow up with the appropriate people within the pokie fund – even when these people have what appears to be solid evidence that moves were made to obscure just who was really asking for grants. Did the DIA investigate with people like SPARC? Not to my knowledge. Seems to me that when anything is just a little bit too hard then the DIA run for the hills. Frankly, I can’t think of any work that the DIA have done in recent times that has really resulted in anything other than warning dodgy operations into becoming more covert.

*Sport New Zealand (Sport NZ) is the new name for the government organisation responsible for sport and recreation (formerly SPARC). -Eds

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See today’s story at Sunday Star Times by senior writer Steve Kilgallon
Pokie Funds: Case closed without call to whistleblower

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr