ORFU chairman quits —no thanks to DCC for all its help *sniff

Of course —with Professional Rugby the sense of entitlement goes a terrible long way. The Dunedin City Council, cracked and broken, has been unfairly or dishonestly “short-changed” by Otago Rugby and big brother NZRU. So too is the community of South Auckland (history: Jokers Bars, Gambling money spent out of area on Otago Rugby and Racing). What a delightful experiential and lucrative background exists to the Otago Union.

Straight up and rational, in the course of a chairman’s work, it’s simply the case that there’s been no mandate to name the rugby sponges who misused millions of dollars of public funds; although Jeremy Curragh, former ORFU change manager, suffered a moment when he was forced to blurt that a lesser amount of charitable funds had been misused by the union in yet another of its darkest hours. [enter *curragh* in the search box at right]

Nor has prosecution of ‘the deserving’ been progressed (fact), but then NZRU and DIA are fully committed to ‘looking forward’ rather than back at their contentious and damning files that might be, suddenly(!), lost or misplaced, or smoothly sealed and suppressed. That’s the political climate, nefariously yet continuously supported by a line-up of senior government ministers along with NZ Police, IPCA, SFO, the Auditor-general, and yes, the Ombudsmen.

Doug Harvie will be glad he is now (personally) out of the spotlight.
Like it never happened. Not on his watch. Like it would not in future.
A clipped accounting English.

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### ODT Online Wed, 21 Jan 2015
Rugby: Harvie stepping down after getting tough job done
By Steve Hepburn
Doug Harvie will step down from the Otago Rugby Football Union’s board with the sport in a much better position than when he arrived. Harvie, a Dunedin chartered accountant, became chairman of the newly structured board in May, 2012. He was shoulder-tapped to stand and felt he could not say no.
Harvie (57), a former loose forward for the University and Dunedin clubs, said the new board did not want to look back on why it found itself in such a tough position. It was focused on getting the business of rugby back into a good shape in Otago.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image tweaked by whatifdunedin

Southern complainants: IPCA won’t ensure upfront investigation #politics

The Police have joined both the Charities Commission and the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) in picking off low hanging fruit to justify their existence. There’s no mongrel in the public service any more and all they want is the easy life. It’s why the Police love traffic enforcement, particularly speed and drink driving – so instant, so easy and oh so profitable. –Anonymous

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Southern police officers were investigated for a range of complaints, including failure to investigate, attitude/language, and inadequate service.

### ODT Online 9:20 AM Sunday Jan 11, 2015
Dozens of police faced disciplinary procedures
By Hamish McNeilly
Complaints about bad language and bullying are just some of the reasons for disciplinary actions against some Southern district police officers. Figures released to the Otago Daily Times show dozens of southern officers have been involved in disciplinary action over the past five years, with 12 officers resigning.
Read more

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IPCA: “It’s our job to keep watch over Police” !!!!

Independent Police Conduct Authority of New Zealand
Sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Independent Police Complaints Authority. The Independent Police Conduct Authority is an independent body that considers complaints against New Zealand Police and oversees their conduct. http://ipca.govt.nz/

IPCA Role and powers
The Authority has the following functions and powers under the Independent Police Conduct Authority Act 1988.
Functions: Under section 12 of the Independent Police Conduct Authority Act 1988, the Authority’s functions are to:
● receive complaints (i) alleging misconduct or neglect of duty by any member of Police or (ii) concerning any Police practice, policy or procedure affecting a complainant; or
● investigate incidents in which a member of Police (acting in the execution of his or her duty) causes or appears to have caused death or serious bodily harm.
Action on complaints: Under the Act, when the Authority receives a complaint, it may carry out its own investigation, or refer the matter to the Police for investigation under the Authority’s oversight. If a complaint is referred to the Police for investigation, the Authority will take steps to ensure that it is properly resolved. This may include directing or actively overseeing the Police investigation, or reviewing or auditing the Police investigation once it is completed. The Authority may also decline to take action on a complaint – for example, if the complaint is very minor or outside the Authority’s jurisdiction. The Authority’s powers in relation to complaints are set out in section 17 and section 19 of the Act. Read more

IPCA Vision and values
The Authority’s mission is to promote public trust and confidence in New Zealand Police. […] The Authority’s values include independence, trustworthiness, accountability, vigilance, and integrity. The Authority exists to support public expectations – as expressed by Parliament – for the justice system to be trusted and effective.
Outcomes: The Authority is funded through Vote: Justice and contributes to the overall justice sector outcome ‘A safe and just society’ and to the following three justice sector goals: accessible justice services, effective constitutional arrangements, and trusted justice system. The work done by the Authority also contributes to Police outcomes of ‘Confident, safe and secure communities’ and ‘Organisational development’, and Police values of integrity and professionalism as outlined in the Police Statement of Intent 2008/09. Read more

IPCA Accountability
The Authority is an independent Crown entity, which means it is accountable to Parliament for its use of taxpayer funding. The Authority is independent in its day-to-day operations. It cannot be told how to handle an investigation, or what the outcome of any investigation should be. However, the Authority is taxpayer-funded and it must account to the responsible Minister and to Parliament for its use of those funds. Read more

IPCA Independence
The Independent Police Conduct Authority is fully independent – it is not part of the Police. ‘Independence’ means that the Authority makes its findings based on the facts and the law. It does not answer to the Police or anyone else over those findings. In this way, its independence is similar to that of a Court. There are three aspects to the Authority’s independence: Legislative independence, Operational independence, and The perception of independence. Read more

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) was established in November 2007, replacing the Police Complaints Authority.
The Police Complaints Authority had been established in 1989, following several years of debate about Police accountability, sparked in part by the role of Police during the 1981 Springbok Tour. Prior to 1989, complaints against the Police were investigated internally. Through most of its life, the Police Complaints Authority comprised a single person with a small number of support staff conducting reviews of Police investigations. Because of its reliance on Police investigations, the Authority was perceived as lacking independence. Recent changes, including the appointment of independent investigators, are addressing that perception.
Key milestones in the history of the Police Complaints Authority include:
● the October 2000 Review of the Police Complaints Authority by Sir Rodney Gallen, who recommended the appointment of independent investigators;
● the appointment in late 2003 of the first independent investigators;
● the March 2007 report of the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct, which recommended a number of changes to the Authority, including enhanced powers and improved communication with complainants;
● the Independent Police Conduct Authority Amendment Act 2007, which changed the Authority’s name and made changes to the Authority’s powers.
The period since the establishment of the Independent Police Conduct Authority in November 2007 has been one of transformation, as the Authority shifts its focus towards independent and transparent investigation of the most serious incidents and complaints. This period of change has included the appointment of additional investigators, and changes to the Authority’s legislation, structure and operations.
[IPCA History] Read more

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 10:00 10/01/2015
‘Zero tolerance’ policy should be scrapped
By Duncan Garner
OPINION Police like to roll out statistics when it suits them so here’s one that hurts – 17 people killed on the roads during the holiday period. That’s more than double the death toll compared with last year. And it’s despite the police’s misguided efforts to target speeding drivers with the hopelessly designed zero tolerance for speeding campaign. It’s a campaign that has utterly failed. It’s a stupid policy that needs to be scrapped. Hundreds of thousands of us will have broken the zero tolerance policy over the holidays. Good on you. I did. It was safer to do so.
Read more

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00, January 11 2015
Uber taxi battle sees police vs cabbies
By Shabnam Dastgheib and Marika Hill
Police are cracking down on Uber, the cheap and trendy new-kid-on-the-taxi rank, leaving paying customers on the pavement. After complaints from the old-school taxi firms, police have begun fining the Uber drivers whose lower fares have been hurting the big cab companies. The private car hire service has hit back, lodging a complaint of police harassment with the Independent Police Complaints (sic) Authority. Uber operates as a private hire service which means the fare has to be set at the time of booking, rather than using a meter. This means Uber does not have to abide by taxi regulations, thus saving on operating costs.
Read more

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Citifleet —Related Posts and Comments:
3.1.15 DCC: Street talk NEVER HAPPENED
25.12.14 Daaave stole Christmas from #DUD
● 24.12.14 Dunedin: Watching the detectives
23.12.14 Our Leaders: if commonalities
● 19.12.14 DCC: Limited Citifleet investigation about insurance
19.12.14 Vandervis: Deloitte and Police Citifleet investigations
19.12.14 DCC Citifleet by email . . . . woops! (another timeline proof)
18.12.14 DCC: Deloitte report released on Citifleet #whitewash
24.10.14 DCC Citifleet, more revelations….
21.10.14 DCC Citifleet, undetectable….

Otago Rugby —For more information, enter the terms *orfu*, *rugby*, *racing*, *pokies*, *auditor-general*, *audit nz*, *dia*, *oag*, *sfo*, *operation chestnut* and *whistleblower* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: 3news.co.nz – police generic

SFO budget slashed, how useful were they ?! #politicalinterference

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 13:38 08/12/2013
Serious Fraud Office faces cutback
By Andrea Vance – Sunday Star-Times
A 25 per cent funding cut means the Serious Fraud Office will take on less cases, MPs were told this week. Funding to the agency is forecast to decline by 24.7 per cent from $10.180 million in 2013/14 to $7.670 in 2014/15. Parliament’s law and order select committee heard that the number of complaints received has more than doubled from around 200 to 435. But chief executive Julie Read told MPs the agency will have to prioritise the work it does, taking on two out of six low level cases as a deterrent.

“I think it is fair to say that the way we prioritise cases probably changed at the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis overall…I’ve anticipated that foundation will continue but we may have to adopt some additional tactics depending on the nature of the cases.”
–Julie Read

The committee heard the agency is starting to see more corruption and bribery complaints often at the lower level, than bigger finance company cases. In the year ending June 2013, 30 new investigations were launched.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
5.12.13 Swann case: ODHB/SDHB and friends
3.12.13 LGNZ: OAG report on Kaipara
15.10.13 NZRU, ORFU blasphemies etc
11.10.13 New Zealand: Pokie trusts same everywhere #pokierorts
10.10.13 Whistleblowers’ message heard ??! #OtagoRacingClub #pokierorts
26.8.13 NZ rorts and sports —dependence on gambling and white collar crime
7.8.13 SFO goes for disgraced lawyer John Milne, but wait . . .
1.8.13 Politicians keeping DIA/SFO quiet on ORFU and TTCF #pokierorts
15.7.13 Leave Otago white collar criminals ALONE, and other unfairness
29.6.13 Audit NZ and OAG clean bill of health —Suspicious!
18.6.13 SFO investigates Taupo District Council
31.3.13 Internal Affairs and Auditor General stuff up bigtime #pokierorts
15.3.13 DCC: Stephens gone. It took way too long. [WHY did he go?]
21.2.13 DIA, SFO investigation #pokierorts
11.2.13 Recognising whistleblowers
21.2.12 Kaipara this time

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

New Zealand: Pokie trusts same everywhere #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

### NZ Herald Online Tuesday 8 October 2013
Super City elections 2013: West’s ‘ugly’ culture has Tamihere fuming
By Steve Deane
Colourful talk radio host MP John Tamihere wants to change what he sees as liquor trusts’ unhealthy monopoly from the inside but they defend set-up as democracy in action, saying proportion of payouts to turnover is about to pick up.

[pub crawl ensues in West Auckland – see full article]
What we’ve just seen [on the crawl], he says, is an example of how West Auckland’s alcohol licensing trusts use their control of the region’s pubs to maximise gambling revenue through pokies. The gambling money, he says, is then used to peddle influence and spread pro-trust propaganda, which reinforces the position of the liquor trusts.

The West’s drinkers are suckers, says Tamihere. They pay over the odds for their booze at the trusts’ bottle stores, are forced to drink in dives and are subjected to banks of pokies when they do. “It’s an ugly drinking culture,” says Tamihere. “It sets up a false world where the leadership of the trusts can make out that we don’t have any drinking problems out West. That is because we migrate them into town or over on to the Shore. No right-minded youth or family will go out anywhere in the West because they are dives. The culture has been perverted by the way the trusts just want to monopolise pokies.” Tamihere wants to get elected so he can change things from the inside. But is change really necessary? Like many things involving the colourful talk radio host, the answer is not straightforward.

Two weeks later we take another tour, this time with Ross Clow, the long-serving president of the Portage Licensing Trust and chairman of The Trusts Community Foundation.

As well as rebutting Tamihere’s ugly drinking culture claims, Clow’s aim is to show where the money from the liquor trusts’ combined $100 million turnover is going. Money, it will surprise no one, is at the heart of this issue. TTCF’s accounts show it paid $10.57 million in pokie revenue to West Auckland causes last year. Clow stands firmly by the claim that 97 per cent of the cash raised out West is returned to the West. He should know. As president of the Portage trust he is responsible for making the recommendations to TTCF on how money raised in its venues should be spent. Given he is also chairman of TTCF, Clow could be accused of making recommendations to himself. He defends the system as a sound way of making sure the money goes to the right places and insists he recuses himself when TTCF votes on Portage’s recommendations.

Tamihere disputes figures surrounding the return of money to West Auckland, but says he won’t be able to prove his case until he gets access to the trusts’ full accounts. “If I have to go to the High Court to break it open I will,” he says. “There is something not right here. I know my community. There is nothing like that being spent out here.”

Then there is the question of who really distributes the money. For years statements issued by the liquor licensing trusts have indicated the money comes from them. It doesn’t. It comes from TTCF, which is a separate financial entity.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
10.10.13 Whistleblowers’ message heard ??! #OtagoRacingClub #pokierorts
1.8.13 Politicians keeping DIA/SFO quiet on ORFU and TTCF #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 terms such as *pokies*, *pokierorts*, *dia*, *sfo* or *ttcf* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr