Tag Archives: Political interference

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

Ron Turner, Wellington. Photo by Ross Giblin [stuff.co.nz] 1### 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.
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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.

ODT 1.6.15 QB Honours Kereyn Smith (detail)

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

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Auckland Council report on pokie grant distribution

Auckland Council logo

### NZ Herald Online 5:51 PM Monday Aug 11, 2014
Poor losing out on pokie cash
By David Fisher
Money tipped into pokie machines in the poorest parts of Auckland doesn’t come back to those communities in gaming grants, new data shows. In contrast, the wealthiest areas gamble far less but take a disproportionate amount of money out of other areas. This has been greeted as proof of a long-stated but never-proven claim about pokies – that the poor get poorer but the rich get richer. The Auckland Council research is behind a challenge to government plans to ringfence 80 per cent of pokie grant distribution inside large regional areas. Instead, it wants a special system for distributing pokie grants inside Auckland which will allow the poorest areas to benefit from money gambled locally. […] Overall, the study found all of Auckland missed out to the benefit of the rest of New Zealand. The $214.6 million put into pokie machines would have made $61.6 million available for grants, on industry averages after expenses were taken out. Auckland got $35.2 million.
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● David Fisher is a senior reporter for the NZ Herald.

Auckland Council Regional Strategy and Policy Committee
07 August 2014

Gambling Working Party – new regulations for the distribution of class 4 (pokie) gambling grants to communities

File No.: CP2014/14759

Purpose
1. To report back on a gambling working party’s deliberations regarding new government regulations to control the distribution of grants from class 4 (commonly known as “pokie”) gambling, and present recommendations based on feedback from the working party.

Executive summary
2. The Minister of Internal Affairs has recently acquired the power to make new regulations specifying the amount of class 4 grants money that must be returned to the area from which it came, and to set out how areas will be identified and defined for that purpose
3. The Minister recently announced that regional council areas will be used as the areas into which grants must be distributed, and the rate of return to those areas will be 80%. New regulations implementing that decision are expected to be issued later this year.
4. A gambling working party, established by minute REG/2013/10, has reviewed information regarding class 4 gaming machine proceeds in Auckland, and the current rate of return of class 4 grant money by local board area.
5. The new regulations could increase the amount of grant money flowing to community and sport groups in Auckland as a whole, but there are significant inequities in the distribution of class 4 grants within the region that the Minister’s proposal would not overcome.
6. The working party has developed a proposal which would address those inequities by defining areas, within Auckland, for the return of class 4 gambling grants.

Recommendation/s
That the Regional Strategy and Policy Committee:
a) endorse the working party’s proposal to define areas within Auckland, as presented in the appended map, whereby a proportion of grants derived from the proceeds of class 4 gambling in those areas would be returned to them
b) endorse the option of advocating for a 90 percent return of grant money to the defined areas, instead of the 80 percent currently proposed by the Minister of Internal Affairs
c) endorse the option of advocating for a different rate of return to the area identified as CGI on the map (comprising the City Centre and Gulf Islands), of either 40 percent or 45 percent
d) delegate to the chair of the Regional Strategy and Policy Committee to write to the Minister of Internal Affairs advocating that the proposed regulations be amended in accordance with the committee’s response to recommendations (a) to (c) above
e) note that the grants data for Auckland will be published on a web portal
f) note that the findings of the working party will be reported to local boards.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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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

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Swann case: ODHB/SDHB and friends

The following are worth a querulous read —especially, the comments added by Anonymous in reply to Andrew Kelly with regards to persons past and present at the DHB (District Health Board) in governance and upper management, who it appears have never been properly investigated.

And while some stolen monies have been recovered lately via trust accounts, surely Iain Fyfe has more to say; and Peter Ibbotson, something for the first time… he’s yet to be interrogated by SFO and NZ Police. Both men, with thumbscrews applied.

OPINION
Blog: Andrew Kelly – Author Blog
Sunday, 4 August 2013
Chapter 2: False Invoice Fraud – Michael Swann and Kerry Harford
My interest in fraud here in New Zealand dates back to September 2010 when I watched (in disbelief) a news item on Michael Swann’s six-year long, $16.9 million false invoice fraud. The end result of which is the (now rewritten) six chapters of “Anatomy of Fraud” you’ll find on this Blog. I must say a special thanks to my patient reviewer: Mark Piper. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did writing them.
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****

OPINION
Society for the Promotion of Community Standards (SPCS)
Michael Swann, Checketts McKay Law, Fraud and Otago DHB’s missing $6 Million: Report
Thursday, 11 November 2010
[excerpts] Checketts McKay Law, Barristers and Solicitors – based in Central Otago, with offices in Wanaka, Cromwell and [Alexandra] […] has five principals, including a Mr Iain Grant Fyfe, who in 1997 was a founding applicant and shareholder in Computer South Limited” […] Mr Iain Grant Fyfe, one of five partners in Checketts McKay Law, held 33 of the total of 100 ordinary shares in Computer South Ltd from 20 March 1997 until 22 September 2006. His share was transferred to the company’s director, Peter Bruce Ibbotson, a plumber, just days before Swann was suspended from his job at ODHB after it had commenced an inquiry into his financial affairs while on the Board. The share transfer was effected on line by Kathleen Bennett of Checketts McKay (Wanaka). […] Iain Fyfe, principal of Checketts McKay has been identified by the SFO as a co-owner of tainted property purchased with the proceeds of crime and involved in a trust that owned other tainted properties (purchased using the proceeds of crime). […] Checketts McKay and Iain Fyfe were listed as respondents in Proceeds of Crimes Act proceedings against Swann by the Solicitor-general who successfully sought restraining orders against a number of assets including Central Otago “tainted properties”. […] It would appear that forensic investigations into the financial/accounting records of the various trusts set up by Checketts McKay law firm to ‘hide’ Swann’s properties, some involving [Anna Devereux] and/or Ibbotson and/or Fyfe, may well provide answers for the police as to the whereabouts of much of the money.
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[via SPCS] The main companies involved in the Michael Swann/Kerry Hartford fraud case:

Sonnford Solutions Ltd (formed 7 Nov 2001) owned by Kerry Harford. Sent invoices to ODHB for computer risk mitigation services. Received 10% of monies. Paid tax and employees.

Computer South Ltd (incorporated 20 March 1997), operated by Michael Swann. Inaugural shareholders wife Anna Devereux, Devereux Family Trust, lawyer Grant Fyfe and Peter Ibbotson. No employees or tax returns. Received 90% of monies.

ODT 14.11.13 Thomson still out in cold
ODT 12.3.09 ‘Astonishing greed’ sunk Swann
ODT 6.12.08 Events in Swann case played out from 1996 [timeline]

Related Post and Comments:
15.7.13 Leave Otago white collar criminals ALONE, and other unfairness

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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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.

Peter Dunne [Parliament]### 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

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DIA reshuffle: new investigation teams, money laundering, criticism

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00 12/08/2012
The money detectives take on casinos
By Steve Kilgallon – Sunday Star Times
A specialist casino investigations team is targeting offshore gamblers pumping millions through casinos on flying visits to New Zealand. The team is part of a major reshuffle at Internal Affairs, which is also establishing a major investigations team tasked with prosecuting sophisticated poker machine frauds, an area where it has faced major recent criticism. DIA staff and Internal Affairs Minister Chris Tremain have been briefed on the changes in the past few days. The casino team will be told its priority is potential money-laundering.

“There are some examples of people being in New Zealand for a relatively short period of time and putting quite a lot of money through the casino,” said Maarten Quivooy, Internal Affairs’ general manager of regulatory and compliance operations. “We are not saying that’s necessarily anything illegal, but it does raise the question ‘what do we know about these things?’

Internal Affairs’ other new team will be called the regulatory investigations team, which will be given extra support, work under Quivooy’s direct command and be told to chase “serious, wilful, deliberate, harmful” offenders.

The department has been heavily criticised in recent years for failing to prosecute alleged pokie rorts. But Quivooy denied the move was a response to that or an acknowledgement of any failings. “We are not doing this to placate people, we are doing it because it is the right thing to do.”

But Internal Affairs critic Martin Legge, a former gambling inspector and later industry whistleblower, said the changes were “akin to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic” and a “deliberate and cynical ploy to deflect attention from their spectacular failure in regulating the pokie industry and stopping the rorts”. Legge said Internal Affairs already had a Serious Investigation Unit which had achieved little and he believed the department lacked the “culture, skills and fortitude” to legally outwit rogue trusts.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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