Transparency New Zealand

The Herald today reported a story  about Zholia Alemi  which illustrates that new Zealand is not the only place where people  don’t check things

.A Plymouth woman who acted as personal assistant to bogus psychiatrist Zholia Alemi says she repeatedly tried to blow the whistle on her ‘bizarre’ actions but was never treated seriously.

For many years I worked as  a private investigator   and  now a verification specialist. But in Godzone the shell be right and God defend us  appears to be  the  level protection which we rely on.I too am a whistleblower and I have been totally ignored

I have  found that across the board we do not rely  on evidence  but  trust those who we think we can trust  for the basis of our decision making . Evidence and truth does not come in to it … at all .

Prime example  is the granting of residency  to a drug smuggler  by the minister of immigration .  The information is there but no one reads it  and what is more no one verifies any thing. we have many more examples of  high profile people who  were not qualified  but much in New Zealand relies  on who you  know and   not on the truth

With   advances in technology any one can now  get a degree document from any university  in the world even from universities which don’t exist .

Names can be changed by deed poll  and now even sex  and date of birth can be changed . You too can be a new person tomorrow , better still if you  work it so that you match a degree   or qualification and Bingo    whole new  life.

In such a fluid society  where things  are open to change    it is  more important than ever that the changes are  verified and that nothing is left to chance .

It is a simple matter to verify a degree and looking at a document  and saying looks genuine enough  is not the  way.

But Trust  as a means of  verification appears to be the   method of choice , if we trust a name or trust a person then  that   ticks the boxes  speak to  those who  trusted the name Hanover and blue Chip.

The converse also happens, those who seek to keep  frauds concealed  do so by attacking the reputation of others   so that anything they say will be regarded as rubbish  or retribution for the attack.. attack is the best form of defence especially if you attack using the court  and  deny a person  a defence.

Its a weird world  and here is  little old me thinking that  verifiable evidence  is the key .. it appears  not to be so

For every Fraudster  caught there are 10 lurking ..  But who will die   who will suffer miss fortune because of the lack of verification remains to be seen, it only becomes important when  the person who suffers is you or one of  your  family .

Its time our medical council  verified  the degrees of their overseas applicants  and those who qualified abroad.

*Zholia Alemi  appears to own  both properties at 93 Oakdale  Road  in Mount Roskill