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

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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.

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More at this ODT Link

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● 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!!

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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.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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

ORFU: Black-tie dinner on ratepayers

Correspondence received.
Monday, 17 March 2014 9:28 a.m.

From: Bev Butler
To: Steve Tew [NZRU]; Doug Harvie [ORFU]
CC: Steve Hepburn [ODT]; Rebecca Fox [ODT]; Murray Kirkness [ODT]; Ian Telfer [RNZ]
Subject: FW: ORFU board responsible for paying the black tie dinner bill
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 09:26:55 +1300

Monday 17th March 2014

Dear Steve

It is a while since we corresponded and Doug [Harvie] has indicated he doesn’t intend to respond any further (always best to keep the lines of communication open when in a leadership role) so thought I would let you in on the current situation of the ORFU.
Please read from the bottom up and then read the rest of this email.

Either Doug doesn’t fully appreciate the situation or is just hoping the issue will go away.
Let me explain the situation from a different perspective so that both you and Doug may have a deeper understanding of the full implications.

Let’s say that you and Doug decide to borrow a considerable amount of money to build a new restaurant with a state of the art glass roof. Absolutely stunning – is going to be just wonderful for me to conduct my business dealings there. Just days after your restaurant opens I come along and make a booking for 350 guests. Unfortunately, my business hasn’t been going that well so am using your new restaurant to have a fund-raising dinner. I employ one of my close friends, Elly-May, to organise the dinner for my business. She sells tickets for this dinner for $250 each. Now 350 guests at $250 each is $87,500. You charge me about $75 per guest – a total of about $26,000. Now after the event I pay my close friend Elly-May about $10,000 and have a few other expenses which leave me with a ‘profit’ of $52,000. BUT instead of paying you the $26,000 I put the lot in my ‘pot’ and cry that I’m poor. You and Doug were such wonderful hosts, our guests were well fed, plenty of booze and cleaned up after us. Thanks for that.

One of your colleagues gets a bit shirty and accuses me of being dishonest. How dare him [sic]. I just wanted to spend the money on something else – I had other bills to pay even though my 350 guests were under the impression they were paying for the night out I just wanted to use the money for something else. Done it before – ask Jeremy Curragh. Well. I have some very important friends, you know. So I get them to sue him for defamation. Felt good when your colleague had to apologise.

Do you really think I have acted honestly and with integrity?

Now do you understand why the Dunedin ratepayers are still angry about this?
I am still being approached by people (as recently as yesterday – some of them rugby coaches) upset by the ORFU’s actions.

I suggest you two have a chat and do the right thing and pay this bill now that the ORFU have announced a ‘profit’ for the year. Someone needs to show some leadership over this. The Dunedin community deserve better. Personally I believe you have a moral obligation to pay this bill and set this wrong right. It is but a small gesture for the many indiscretions perpetrated by the ORFU on the Dunedin community.
Some people in the Dunedin community think that the ORFU are rotten to the core but I don’t actually agree with them. I am an optimist at heart and believe that there is human decency in everyone. In the ORFU’s case it just requires a bit of deeper prodding.

The ORFU have a moral obligation to show some human decency and pay this bill. It is a matter of principle. I will not be silenced on this. You have my word on that.

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

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From: Bev Butler
To: Doug Harvie [ORFU]
CC: Steve Hepburn [ODT]
Subject: RE: ORFU board responsible for paying the black tie dinner bill
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 09:43:19 +1300

Dear Doug

Saying that “ALL creditors have been satisfied in full, in one way or another” is not the same as saying that all creditors have been PAID in full.
I know it is uncomfortable for you to be reminded of this but it still does not excuse the ORFU from doing the decent thing and paying their obscene black-tie dinner given they already had the money but decided to pocket it instead.
How about showing some decency or goodwill towards those that bailed you out of your financial mess now that you are flush with $406,859 profit?

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

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From: Doug Harvie [ORFU]
To: Bev Butler
CC: Steve Hepburn [ODT]
Subject: RE: ORFU board responsible for paying the black tie dinner bill
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 20:16:32 +0000 [sic]

You have your facts wrong Bev – ALL creditors of ORFU have been satisfied in full, in one way or another.

I will not be responding to any further correspondence on this matter.

D J Harvie

Partner
Harvie Green Wyatt

(P O Box 5740, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand. Phone +64 3 4775005 or +64 21 2234169. Fax +64 3 4775447

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From: Bev Butler
Sent: Friday, 14 March 2014 7:32 a.m.
To: Doug Harvie [ORFU]
Cc: Steve Hepburn [ODT]
Subject: ORFU board responsible for paying the black tie dinner bill

Friday 14th March 2014

Dear Doug

In today’s ODT the ORFU have reported a profit of $406,859 for the 2013 financial year and a profit of $134,656 for the 2012 financial year. Part of this so called profit is just pocketing of monies from unpaid bills.

As you are fully aware, the ORFU ran up a DVML bill of $25,352 for their black tie fund raiser at the stadium on 5th August 2011. This was for food, booze, soft drinks and cleaning.

Not only did the ORFU run off without paying this bill but the ORFU paid no venue hire for this brand new venue. Then to top it off the ORFU pocketed $52,000 from this fundraising event into their ‘pot’ which then is reported as profit for the 2012 financial year.

The fact that the ORFU then pressurised the Council to ‘write it off’ does not excuse the ORFU from the moral obligation to pay this bill.

I was quoted in the ODT as saying this was ‘obscene’. It is like booking a large restaurant, gorging yourselves on all their food and drink and hospitality then doing a runner.

It is ‘obscene’ and I expect this bill to be paid in full.

Laurie Mains, and his wife, Anne-Marie, refused to answer questions as to whether Anne-Marie was paid for her services in organising this event. I actually have no problem with her charging for her professional services. What I do have a problem with is that it is standard practice for professional event organisers to ensure all outstanding bills are paid before the ‘surplus’ is paid to the organisation. This did not happen. I don’t know whether Anne-Marie was paid $10,000, $12,000 or even more but whatever the amount the issue is that the other bills should have been paid first.

I fully expect this bill to be paid as the ORFU did actually have sufficient funds to pay this bill as evidenced by the reported profit of $134,656 for the 2012 financial year.

I also remind you that the $350 guests to this black-tie dinner paid $250 per ticket which would have been paid with the understanding that this would cover the costs. When a function such as this is organised, the ticket price is to cover the costs of the meal, venue hire, cleaning etc. Once the bills are paid, then any surplus is genuine ‘profit’ and the organisation then can legally pocket this ‘profit’.

The fact that the ORFU pocketed this money instead of paying their bill is unacceptable.

It is time the ORFU did the decent thing and pay this bill.

Yours sincerely

Bev Butler

[ends]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Mayoral DISGRACE: DCC won’t ask ORFU to repay $480K bailout

█ Related Posts and Comments:
14.3.14 ORFU flush to pay creditors

The Otago Rugby Football Union has recorded a $406,800 profit, just over two years after it faced going out of business because of debts of more than $2 million. The union now has reserves of more than $500,000, and is predicting a small profit for the coming year. […] When asked whether the union would consider repaying some creditors who lost money when the deal was agreed to save the union from liquidation, Union chairman Doug Harvie said that would not happen. (ODT 14.3.14)

24.5.12 ORFU board announced

The recovery package involved the NZRU providing a long term loan for working capital of $500,000 and Dunedin City Council writing off debt of $480,000. In addition, costs have been cut and additional sponsorship arranged. […] Almost $500,000 has been raised to allow the union to settle with creditors. A total of 156 non-profit organisations and other creditors who are all owed less than $5,000 will be paid in full. The remaining 24 creditors will be repaid the first $5,000 and half of what they are owed above that. The repayments are due to be made by the end of the month. (ODT 24.5.12)

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Copy received. ODT 15.3.14 (page 14)

For more, enter the terms *orfu*, *dinner*, *jeremy curragh*, *bailout*, *martin legge*, *dia*, *pokies*, *jokers*, *ttcf*, or *pokie rorts* in the search box at left.

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/295236/council-will-not-welsh-deal

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Audit NZ and OAG clean bill of health —Suspicious!

Received from Martin Legge
Saturday, 29 June 2013 9:53 a.m.

Learn how the Kaipara council was repeatedly given a clean bill of health by Audit NZ despite the massive debt and obvious governance problems.

Compares with how OAG assured me they were closely monitoring the TTCF investigation into how it was that ORFU and Racing were able to fleece $7 million from the South Auckland community. The truth is, DIA lost that file and therefore didn’t investigate and instead deliberately covered the loss up. OAG appear OK with this and issued DIA with a clean bill of health.

Our trust and faith in the work of these well resourced “highly educated desk jockeys” is misplaced!!!

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### NZ Herald Online Saturday, 29 Jun 2013 8:48 AM
Fresh probe begins into debt-ridden council
By Andrew Laxon
The commissioners of debt-ridden Kaipara District Council have begun a new inquiry into its past financial decisions, including the advice it received from former chief executive Jack McKerchar. The tiny Northland council is struggling under an $80 million debt, a long-running rates strike and court action by its own ratepayers over more than $17 million of illegally set rates dating back to 2006. Its former councillors stepped down last year in response to a damning report, making way for Government-appointed commissioners.

Three inquiries are under way into what went wrong. They consist of

● An Auditor-General’s investigation into how the cost of a sewerage scheme at Mangawhai blew out from $11 million in 1999 to $62 million, creating most of the council’s debt.
● An independent inquiry into how the Audit Office failed to notice the excessive debt and repeatedly gave the council a clean bill of health.
● The commissioners’ investigation into other financial transactions they have discovered since taking over last September and see as questionable.

Northland MP Mike Sabin told Parliament ratepayers had been woefully let down by the council’s “mismanagement, incompetence, carelessness and dysfunctional governance”. Mr Sabin, who is sponsoring a local bill to retrospectively validate the illegal rates, said the bill was necessary to keep the council functioning but it would not allow anyone responsible for poor decisions to duck the consequences.
The separate inquiry into the Audit Office’s actions, undertaken by Auditing and Assurance Standards Board chairman Neil Cherry, was not finished.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
21.4.13 Councils “in stchook” —finance & policy analyst Larry.N.Mitchell
31.3.13 DIA and OAG stuff up bigtime #pokierorts
21.2.13 DIA, SFO investigation #pokierorts
3.11.12 Stadium: DCC caught in headlights
29.10.12 DCC consolidated debt substantially more than $616m
21.2.12 Kaipara this time

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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]

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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.

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### 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.

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

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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

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) – CULPABLE #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

### ODT Online Fri, 26 Oct 2012
Trust audit labelled ‘a white wash’
By Hamish McNeilly
[Whistleblower Martin Legge] says an Internal Affairs audit is a “whitewash” after it failed to act on his material involving the Otago Rugby Football Union, South Auckland bars and a pokie trust.[…]An audit of The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd (TTCFL) was released last week under the Official Information Act. Earlier this year, the ODT reported the union had bought three Auckland-based bars and entered a relationship with the pokies trust, then called The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF).

“At each change of ownership, it was looked at, and there was no evidence of illegality, and we had no reason to not approve the changes,” the [DIA] audit noted.

Mr Legge alleges that relationship – concerning the ownership of the South Auckland bars known as the “Jokers Group” – resulted in the union receiving more than $6 million in pokie grants from the trust between 2005 and 2011.
The Internal Affairs audit, which covers the period April 1, 2010, to January 31 this year, noted “the Department has undertaken a number of separate investigations into ‘Jokers Group’ and its ownership company over the years”.

ORFU general manager Richard Kinley said he could not comment because the audit concerned an earlier administration, and he had not read the released audit.

The audit also examined three Jokers Group grants given to the ORFU from the trust totalling $379,767 in approved payments. They were found to be compliant.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Bad press for ORFU –NZ Herald

● 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

### nzherald.co.nz 5:30 AM Wednesday Oct 24, 2012
Opinion
We’re relying on money poured through pokies
By Brian Rudman
The latest Pub Charity advertisement, promoting the $20,186,931 distributed to good causes over the past six months, has a certain similarity to the advertising blitzkrieg being conducted by the cigarette industry. Both try to distract us from the distinctly unpleasant underbellies of their respective industries.[…]Pub Charity chief executive Martin Cheer, in last Sunday’s advertisement[…]claimed that “charitable donations” that are “critical for causes from air rescue to opera” will be in jeopardy. He said Auckland Council was about to feed community groups and charitable organisations “a super size pile of bull about the future of charitable gaming machines in their territory” and that staff were using incorrect and misleading statistics to persuade community boards that “gaming machine funding is not that important or effective”. Mr Cheer’s comments are just a rehash of an earlier statement he issued in May, but they did draw my attention once more to where Pub Charities funds come from.

Two years ago, the former chief executive of the Community Gaming Association, Francis Wever, wrote to the Minister of Internal Affairs claiming that corrupt behaviour in his own industry was “all-pervasive and pernicious” with “endemic non-compliance”.

This year we read of how the Otago Rugby Union bought three South Auckland pubs then siphoned $5 million in pokie profits out of the areas – mainly Manurewa – to help prop up the failing Dunedin sporting body. What’s protecting the pokie industry from reform is that it props up respectable New Zealand.
Read more

● Brian Rudman is a Herald columnist looking at Auckland and national issues.

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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]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Keeping ORFU sweet [email]

● 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 2012/08/15 at 4:35 pm

Below is an email dated June 2005 between TTCF Inc’s General Manager, Warwick Hodder, and the TTCF Trustees. It is one of many documents I was asked to provide DIA along with my 30-page signed statement shortly before Politicians intervened for TTCF and the truth became inconvenient.

Since then DIA have continued to give the public a list of reasons why they can’t act which include – the Gambling Act has a 2-year time frame for prosecution and TTCF Inc no longer exists as an entity.

Firstly, there are no such time frames for taking historical matters to the Gambling Commission or cancelling and suspending a gaming licence.

Secondly, DIA allowed TTCF Inc to remorph itself into TTCF Ltd and in doing so also allowed it to transfer all its pokie pubs which included Jokers Manurewa, the last remaining Jokers venue controlled by ORFU, over to the new entity TTCF Ltd.

So even under TTCF Ltd the unlawful arrangements and a further $800,000 was fleeced from the poorest part of South Auckland into the ORFU. It only stopped when Jokers Manurewa was closed down for commercial reasons.

So you see, DIA still have a 2-year window of opportunity in which to prosecute TTCF Ltd and until June 2013 to do it.

From: Warwick Hodder [mailto:WarwickHodder@xtra.co.nz]
Sent: Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:00 p.m.
To: Doug Burt; John Wyeth; Murray Acklin; Roger Smaill; Ron Turner (Home); Ross Dallow; Tom Jones
Cc: Modus Group
Subject: JOKERS VENUES

Dear All

There have been some significant developments regarding the ownership of the Jokers venues, to the extent that those now in control have extensive racing (mainly harness) interests. All this has been done between ORFU and Harness so the Union has been in the loop. There are some risks for TTCF Trustees and Modus Group that need to be addressed and I guess if the frying pan gets too hot then we may have to be prepared to walk away from these venues. I do not think it has become quite that drastic but it would be unfair of me not to fully acquaint you of developments. For the time being the current Directors will remain in place but that will change in months to come when financial matters have all been officially dealt with. I am not party to exactly what these arrangements are but have been assured that the current Directors will sign a 3 year venue agreement and we will be officially notified of any changes when they happen and all appropriate forms and other paperwork will be submitted to us for actioning with DIA.

The new owners intend to emulate what the racing codes are already doing in relation to the TAB funds i.e. submitting a quarterly schedule of grants to go to racing.

Their expectation is that racing will receive $2.6m in a year. ORFU are still expecting up to $1m a year and there is supposedly going to be at least 20% available to the rest of the community, which I am guessing is approximately another $1m per year. Extrapolating these expectations out to a turnover figure, using a 45% return to A/P as a means of doing so, basically these venues need to be doing $10m a year, which is what they were doing when they first joined the fray. But things have changed slightly, partly due to a reduction in turnover at Commerce St because the new owners did not work the place as hard as previous management did.

There are two issues that I am uncomfortable with and we need to deal with them sooner rather than later i.e.

1. I am not sure that there will be enough money to make things work for all parties, especially the community

2. The current authorised purpose statement is inadequate to cope with these sorts of initiatives

I have asked their representative to meet with me again today to discuss some more realistic expectations. I suspect they have budgeted for Commerce where it used to be not where it is now. They have moved the operation to a 24 hr one again and so it will certainly improve but whether it meets their expectations is another matter.

We need to probably discuss this whole matter in committee at the upcoming Board meeting.

Warm regards

Warwick Hodder

—

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]

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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

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

The Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill

Comment received.

Anonymous
Submitted on 2012/06/03 at 10:48 pm

Yes and in the face of all these rorts the big trusts, Lion Foundation and Pub Charity are rallying support – encouraging their favoured grant applicants to make submissions to Govt on the new pokie bill which if passed intends doing away with all pokie trusts (and their rorts) within 12 months.

When Francis Weavers, the ex CEO of the Community Gaming Association (CGA), an organisation set up by and for the benefit of Pokie Trusts, submits an official report to the Govt claiming endemic non compliance and corruption within the industry you have got to wonder just how bad it has all become and wonder why this Govt has not shown more leadership with DIA and the industry.

Seriously, this has now grown into a serious law and order issue involving “white collar” criminals – something this Govt said it was tough on.

[ends]

See comment below to read Weavers’ report.

—

The Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill is a private member’s bill that was proposed by Maori Party MP for Waiariki, Te Ururoa Flavell.

It was drawn from the ballot in September 2010 and concluded its first parliamentary reading on Wednesday 9 May 2012. Parliament voted to send the bill to the Commerce Select Committee for consideration. The committee has six months to consider submissions before it must report back to parliament. The matter is scheduled to be heard in the House on 9 November 2012.

The purpose of the bill is:
a) To prevent and minimise the harm caused by gambling, including problem gambling.
b) To ensure that money from gambling benefits the community.
c) To facilitate community involvement in decisions about the provision of gambling.

Submissions close on Thursday, 21 June 2012
Have your say in creating better gambling laws by making a written submission to the Select Committee.

Submissions can be mailed to:

Secretariat
Commerce Committee
Select Committee Office
Parliament Buildings
WELLINGTON 6011

—

http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Debates/Debates/Daily/5/e/e/50HansD_20120509-Volume-679-Week-10-Wednesday-9-May-2012.htm

http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Debates/Debates/3/9/d/50HansD_20120509_00000024-Gambling-Gambling-Harm-Reduction-Amendment.htm

### 3news.co.nz Thu, 10 May 2012 5:30a.m.
Pokie reduction bill passes first reading
A bill giving local authorities the power to cut back on pokie machines in pubs and clubs, or get rid of them altogether, has passed its first reading in Parliament with strong support.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Again: Oh, Mr Curragh… [emails]

From: bevkiwi@hotmail.com
To: jcurragh@xtra.co.nz
CC: hamish.mcneilly@odt.co.nz; murray.kirkness@odt.co.nz; craig.page@odt.co.nz
Subject: The ORFU scandal, missing trust monies and reported fraudulent activities
Date: Sun, 27 May 2012 21:39:11 +1200

Sunday 27th May 2012

Dear Jeremy

You have still not responded to my emails dated Sunday 20th May and Wednesday 23rd May 2012.
This is not a good look as I was expecting some reassurance from you, as the ORFU change manager, re perceived financial irregularities of ORFU.
To date, you have chosen not to name the trusts involved in the missing money, you have given no reassurance that the ORFU were not trading illegally while insolvent, you have offered no public apology to the amateur rugby clubs who have missed out on receiving the public money the ORFU applied for, you have offered no explanation how you see nothing illegal about spending public money on unauthorised purposes, you have offered no explanation why the ORFU did not pay their $25,352 DVML party/booze bill, pocketing $52,000 from the event then continuing to hock up other bills around town.

Now we have a report from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) website and ODT that “an elderly man who ripped off pokies community grants to the tune of $605,550 has been sentenced to community detention”. Judge Charles Blackie called the case a “very elaborate scam”. There appear to be a number of similarities in this case and the ORFU case.

I will outline the similarities as follows:

1. Counties Manukau Bowls (CMB)
The DIA found numerous fraudulent grant applications to gaming machine societies from Counties Manukau Bowls (CMB), an umbrella organisation for south Auckland bowling clubs. Noel Henry Gibbons implemented a scheme in which constituent clubs or CMB would invest indirectly in hotels where poker machines operated so that, in turn, those clubs could benefit from grants of pokies proceeds.
Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU)
In the SST it was recently reported that the ORFU had invested in three South Auckland bars and were siphoning money over a few years to the tune of $5m.

2. Counties Manukau Bowls (CMB)
Gibbons also applied for grants from gaming machine societies for bowling machine maintenance, using the money to illegally repay loans for the purchase of hotels.
Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU)
The ORFU have been spending monies from unnamed trusts for unauthorised purposes. This has occurred on many occasions and the money has gone ‘in the pot’.

3. Counties Manukau Bowls (CMB)
Judge Blackie said Gibbons knew he acted dishonestly each time he made a false application at the expense of the community.
Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU)
I do not have any information re false applications except that the ORFU continued to make applications to unnamed trusts and used this public money for unauthorised purposes.
The black-tie dinner also has similarities in that the ORFU deliberately ran off without paying their $25,352 DVML bill whilst pocketing $52,000 into their own pot.

Jeremy, you have not offered any assurances as outlined above and in my previous emails nor have you indicated whether you have reported the ORFU irregularities to the appropriate authorities.

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

—

Related Posts and Comments:
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

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DIA media release

What if? Website Reminder:
ORFU – Otago Rugby Football Union
TTCF (Inc) – The Trusts Charitable Foundation (being wound up; established as a Charitable Trust by deed in July 1989)
TTCF Ltd – The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd (set up and licensed on 11 June 2010)

Received yesterday.

[Begins]

Department of Internal Affairs
Media Release

25 May 2012

Sentenced for defrauding community of pokie grants

An Internal Affairs investigation uncovered a pokie machine rort that resulted in a significant loss of grant funding going to the community. The investigation revealed that numerous grant applications to gaming machine societies from Counties Manukau Bowls (CMB), an umbrella organisation for South Auckland bowling clubs, were fraudulent.

From late 2006 to September 2009 Counties Manukau Bowls employed Noel Henry Gibbons, 79, of Manurewa, to apply for gaming machine grants.

Mr Gibbons implemented a scheme whereby constituent clubs or CMB itself would invest indirectly in purchasing pubs where pokie machines operated – so that in turn those clubs could benefit from grants of pokie machine proceeds.

Mr Gibbons also applied for grants from gaming machine societies for “bowling green maintenance” – but some of the money was used illegally to repay loans for the purchase of pubs. This money should have been distributed to local community purposes as grants. Paying off loans is a commercial and illegal use of funding generated from pokie machines.

Mr Gibbons fabricated quotes and invoices from “green keeping contractors” to support grant applications and the provision of services. None of those named in the invoices as billing for a service knew anything of the work they were supposed to have done.

He was sentenced in the Manukau District Court today to six months’ community detention for obtaining $605,550 by deception and of using forged documents.

Judge Charles Blackie said Gibbons’ offending was a “very elaborate” scam and an “unlawful scheme”. The defendant knew he acted dishonestly each time he made a false application and this was at the expense of the community.

Judge Blackie emphasised the need to hold the defendant accountable and responsible, to deter others who might be inclined to “rip off” the system, and to provide for the community’s interests as the victims of this offending. He adopted a starting point of two years six months’ imprisonment but imposed a lenient sentence because of Gibbons’ guilty plea, advanced age and poor health.

Maarten Quivooy, Internal Affairs’ General Manager of Regulatory and Compliance Operations said organisations cannot expect that buying into pokie machine venues will ensure favourable treatment for grant applications.

“It’s illegal and the Department works to ensure that pokie money, which belongs to the community, is protected,” he said. “We want to ensure that community groups have fair access to gambling-generated funds and will take action over any attempts to capture funding flows that are detected.

“We are very pleased that our investigation has led to Mr Gibbons being held accountable for fraud, and for defrauding his community. A clear message to the gambling sector is this: where we come across deliberate and wilful attempts to take community funding we will take strong and decisive action to hold people accountable”.

Media contact:
Trevor Henry, senior communications adviser, Department of Internal Affairs
Ph 04 495 7211; cell 021 245 8642

[ends]

Read it at the Department of Internal Affairs website
Other DIA News, Press Releases & Consultation (Link)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr