corruption

The curious case of Equity Law and Equity Trust International

There is  a  very big anomaly in New Zealand with regards to law firms , they are not readily identifiable and even the law society has trouble telling you  what is a law firm and what is not a law firm.

Lets look at  some entries on their register  at a listing for  Stewart and associates Equity law

You wont  find it on the companies register and even the registration   on the  solicitors roll is deceptive  as the address is in Auckland  and the phone number is in Alexandra.

Also you have to  wonder how an organization can operate   from a Po Box. .. bit cramped we would have thought .

Try to physically locate it  and you will never  find it  as the ” organisation ”  doe not  exist   and  it is indeed a  fictional law firm .

This fictional law firm,   fictional entity   is however the  instructing solicitors  in  court action  agaisnt us . The law firm  only has one  lawyer  a  young lady   named Julia Leenoh.   Julia is not her real name and neither is Leenoh apparently  as she  does not appear to have obtained her degree in that name    and appears to be   Joo Yeon Lee

Now this  fictional  law firm   came  about apparently  through the  ” merger”  with Equity law  .

Now  the objective of this blog post is to identify  who or what  Equity law is .. I warn you  you are going to get dizzy .

It is of note that when the proceedings were commenced against us the   fourth plaintiff was identified as  Equity Chambers we then received a memorandum   to say

“This document notifies you that the fourth Plaintiff was incorrectly named as Equity Law Chambers.  It should instead be amended to Equity Law Barristers Limited, as incorporated company, having its registered offices at Level 4, Khyber Pass Road, Grafton, Auckland. ”

We had rather foolishly  thought that equity law    was  equity law barristers  as  all the  signage in the building  indicate equity law  as being inthe building  and when  our director had close relationships with the  law firm  it appeared to be a law firm .

let us look at the  history of Equity law .. assuming that it is the company  Equity  law barristers Limited

the company was formed  19 Dec 2006   as Equity law  2007 Limited

Captures from the  way back machine  show the very first  we presence  that they captured  on 17 August 2007

the  web site  was registered 20:19 27/3/2007 to  equity law  Limited  we note that there is no such company as  Equity law limited  but even the registrar of  domain names agrees that this must be the company which owns the web site   becasue the other associated companies did not exist  at that time

Equity trust International Limited  was incorporated 26 may 2008

Equity trust International tax agents  Limited  was incorporated  15 November 2011

Going back to  Equity Law 2007 Limited  we note that it had two directors

These two persons are also involved in the   legal action against us .

Action was originally taken  agaisnt a member  and  when     the plaintiffs agreed it was an error they eventually  submitted  proper documentation   which   shows the other plaintiffs signatures.

this is the signature of the  second  Plaintiff   now look at the   initial filing  documents of the  company for this  same person    and the signature is  some what  different  the  full document is on this     link it is the fourth  document from the bottom  this   and the share holder link is this the  actual signature for the share holder is   this

Our research shows that  the  actual signature is the very first one

to us it appears  that  a law  firm has been   set up  using fraudulent signatures. But could it even have been a law  firm ?   seems like no one can tell us.  Now  The   director of  the firm   claims that Equity law is a trading name he used.  so the plot thickens. perhaps we will never know.

The  dubious signatures are  a bit ironic  as  a  member of the chambers was Frank Deliu  who defended Lu Zhang  “

Lu Zhang, 28, is accused of 75 offences of making false statements in company registration forms after she declared her office address was her residence in 75 companies she registered.

She was charged after a plane loads of weapons, including rockets and grenades, from North Korea bound for Iran was seized in Bangkok last year.

another  new item is also worthy of reading  this is an extract

Former fast-food worker Lu Zhang, 28, was the sole director of Queen St registered SP Trading Ltd, a company that hired a plane discovered at Bangkok airport last December flying 25 tonnes of arms from North Korea to an unknown destination, believed to be Iran.

Zhang pleaded guilty yesterday to 74 charges of giving false residential information to the Companies Office, which registered multiple companies with her as a director. She could have faced up to five years in jail and/or a fine of $200,000, but was convicted and discharged.

Her lawyer, Frank Deliu, revealed that the Chinese ambassador in Wellington, Xu Jianguo, had written to Zhang’s immigration consultant, former immigration minister Tuariki Delamere, who had briefed him on what was happening. Mr Xu’s letter was included in affidavits.  see article

it is interesting to note that  Tuariki Delamare operates  a  floor below that of Equity law   see this

The   entire building appears to be abuzz with   inter connected activity   just recently  the bank Breder Suasso  was found operating on the second floor  with a fake reception  see the news item here

The fourth Floor  of  44 Khyber pass   used to be just the law firm  and the travel agent next  door  but now  we have  a  raft of activity  there including  forex traders  and  Equity trust International  which sets up  new Zealand companies for   foreigners   .

The instructing solicitor  in the action against us is Greg Stewart , although he works in Alexandra he is the director of this company  and also  supervised Julia Leenoh    from his desk in Otago .

we have now   got a most  confusing situation   where by  the court papers filed Greg Stewart claims  that  Equity   law barristers limited was not the law firm    called equity law   in one lot of proceedings  and  claims that it was  in  another lot of proceedings.

the Statement of Claim and the  Bundle for defence part 1 and Bundle for defence part 2  AND Bundle for defence part 3    and the defamation defence COMBINED are at the links

they have been served on the lawyer  who is appearing on the matter   and who  has been signing the submissions  but refuses to file a representation . this is Michael  Locke  we believe he is the one and the same   who  appears on the insolvency web site having been   recently released from bankruptcy .

The plaintiffs    have been attempting to  silence us  because  the truth is  inconvenient

our revelations   that the  former lawyer  did not have a proper  law firm,   and the fact that the   associated  trust firm passes itself off as a ;w firm is of concern.  as  are the mention of 10 million dollar bank accounts, solicitor escrow accounts and  the offer of passports   from the Dominican republic, St  Kitts  and Nevis  as second passports to  open up the world for  would be investors.

Interesting holiday reading of  what he  world  so called second least corrupt country facilitates.

We stand by our research   the truth is the truth .

Transparency International New Zealand will you unmask the corrupt ?

Transparency International are running an excellent campaign called  Unmask  the corrupt .Ironically this is what we have been doing and   have been sued for , that is because  we have been doing it on our own.

There is a vast difference between Transparency International and  their NZ branch  , The New Zealand branch  dedicates it web site to showing how well we are doing at being  ” corruption Free”  while the rest of the world actually  fights corruption.

We often point out that  if you ignore cancer you will  succumb to it , the same is true of corruption.

We have New Zealand companies involved in international  trade, not  all of it legitimately  see this news item.

Naked Capitalism a web site operated  overseas  by a number of  top  class   journalists  and  connected  to the international consortium of investigative  journalists have  published a number of articles  with regards to   the activity of  Money laundering in New Zealand  see this post entitled “New Zealand, Fresh From Its Service to Mexican Drug Lords, Helps Out the Russian Mafia” and a more recent onesNew Zealand’s GT Group in Romania, Moldova and the UK,

While New Zealand’s Company Law Reform Stalls, GT Group Helps a Thieving Ukrainian Despot

New Zealand: Pseudo-Financial Companies, and GT Group, Both Still Going Strong.

NC’s Guess About a Sean Quinn-GT Group Connection Just Got a Bit More Solid (But a Bit More Ho-Hum, Too)

At Least Half of the 21,500 Companies Revealed by the Guardian/ICIJ Offshore Investigation Have Connections With Rogue Agent GT Group

What is significant is that    the Government thinks that they have closed  down the GT group  but many of  the companies once administered by a new zealand company  .Just one such example is GT GLORIA TRADING

This company  overseas companies and  has a disproportionate Russian representation .

Even many of the people involved   are what we call name shifters and so are the companies themselves , this is  so that you never really know who you are dealing with  .

email Bushe

Alex Bushe  of equity law  also appears to be one and the same as    Alexander BUSHUEV, who  is the director of a number of  Equities companies SEDLEX LIMITED (5058320) – Director & Shareholder GLOBAL WEALTH GROUP LIMITED (5433544) – Director & Shareholder FIDELIS INTERNATIONAL TRADING LIMITED (5318101) – Director & Shareholder BLACKLIST DEBT RECOVERY LIMITED (4361899) – Director & Shareholder STEIGEN MAKLER LIMITED (5170404) – Director & Shareholder DRAGON GROUP LIMITED (5433581) – Director & Shareholder

another such person is  Gregory Shelton  who also appears to be the one and the same as Grigori CHELOUDIAKOV who   took over the shareholdings of several companies including    IMEXO PRANA  and   CRESTPOINT TRADE

Both of these companies had  former director   latvian  Inta bilder  and are  associate to the companies involved in this news item NZ shell company linked to alleged $150m fraud  AND SEE the latvian proxys

So needless to say  we  whole heatedly support the  initiative of  Transparency International in the UNMASK THE CORRUPT  CAMPAIGN .

Auckland Council Rates.. does the law apply to Council as it does to you ? part 2

Yesterday we discussed the ability  for council to   charge penalties on  installments  today we take it a step further – what legal right do they have to charge  penalties on GST which they are collecting for the  government ?   We believe that they don’t have any right to do this at all  below is  how we come to  that.

Taking a rates notice which we have here for example
The rates for the financial year 2014-15 are $4510.81 this has a content of $588.36 GST
The current instalment is $1127 and has a  GST content of  $147

The rates notice states

Pay on time to avoid penalties

“‘ It pays to pay your rates on time, as you will be charged a 10 per cent penalty on any part of your current instalment that is overdue.

You will also be charged a 10 per cent penalty on any part of your rates (and penalties from previous years) that have not been paid by 5 July, and again by 5 January, of the current financial year. Any payments that you make towards your rates will be credited towards the oldest amount due first”

The operative words are  any part of your rates.  The Gst is the GST  portion of your rates. The rates  is what is set and  what the GST is payable on .

The the act states penalties Must not exceed 10%   therefore they can only charge  a penalty of 10% on the rates  being 1127-147, the penalty on the rates to be lawful can only be 10% of $980  being $98 .

By charging penalty of $112.70 they are  charging a penalty rate of greater than 10% (11.5% in this case )  which is   and $14.70 over charge  per instalment  and  not  made lawfully .

This is of course  also subject to   the ability  for council to  charge penalties on   instalments as discussed previously

If council can only charge penalties once the years rates are due  being 30 June 2015  then   by imposing  penalties on rates which are inclusive of  GST  ,they will be collecting a further  $58.80  per year ( presuming that you then pay  just prior to  the 30th June )*

Strangely enough  this  sum is more than  the sum which they  give you for early payment .

Where this really gets tricky  is in compounding penalties on the  Gst  of previous payments/ years .

Then there is also the question is GST Payable on the  penalty  or  is GST Payable only on the rates portion ?

We will put that  to council to work out, they have an obligation to us after all to be open transparent and accountable  and presumably that is why we pay crazy high wages to those at the top so that this  kind of thing does not happen ???

 

*based on  instalments being  29 August 2014,26 November 2014, 26 February 2015,27 May 2015 note that   even by instalments  all rates due are paid a month  early .

Auckland council rates – Are you being ripped off ? Part 1

A leaked drawing of the State House Sculpture by artist Michael Parekowhai.

On the one hand we have a sculpture of a house   now scaled down to cost  a mere $1.5 million, a mere ornament which the council intends to  buy

On the  Other  hand we have a real house , a home  to at least three people  and two cats  worth less than  $700,000.Which the council is going to forcibly sell .

Then there is a rates bill  of  some 13,000 which was not paid  out of protest  to a very  one sided contract where by  Council was not keeping up their end of  the agreement where by they  were to engage in  open transparent and democratically accountable governance.

While the council  are prepared to pay over the top  for  one they are willing to sell the other because  a pittance is owed. Ironically this is exactly why  Penny    withheld her rates.

Penny Bright   withheld her rates  until the books were opened  just as Auckland transport has managed to do  see here

So the  $13,000  in arrears  rates  have attracted over $20,000 in penalties.  this prompted us to have a closer look at  what is going on with our rates  and it appears that Auckland rate payers are held accountable to  rate penalties in a very strict manner , pay a day late on any instalment  and you pay  10% more ,On the other hand  Auckland council  is manipulating the law and   in  other instances  being totally non compliant.

In going through the  law and the  detail we have discovered a number of things   which are worthy of  question , especially when  the houses which we  once bought  for   tens of thousands are now worth hundreds of thousands  and wages have remained static.

Let   us you  through it , this is the way we see it .

The applicable legislation  is  the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 and  the ability to  include  penalties comes from  a two step process  by council .

  1. There needs to be a decision by council , this may  be delegated but has to me made before the rates are set
  2. The decision made must comply with the law  and
    1. Must not exceed 10% of the amount of unpaid rates on the date when the penalty is added
  3. may be of the types of penalties as  set out in  section  58  being
    • a) a penalty on rates assessed in the financial year for which the resolution is made and that are unpaid after the due date for payment (or after a later date if so specified):

    • (b) a further penalty on rates assessed in any financial year and that are unpaid on whichever day is the later of—

      • (i) the first day of the financial year for which the resolution is made; or

      • (ii) 5 working days after the date on which the resolution is made:

    • (c) a further penalty on rates to which a penalty has been added under paragraph (b), if the rates are unpaid 6 months after that penalty was added.

The way  that we interpret this   is that these options are available and are the only legal options available  IF it is  contained in the decision by council.

We went in search of the  decision which  Auckland council had made and found it in the  2014-15  annual Plan Volume 1 – Our Plan for 2014/2015  for ease we have isolated the pages concerned they are found here rates related policies

Penalties on rates not paid by the due date
The council will apply a penalty of 10 per cent of the amount of rates assessed under each instalment in the 2014/2015 financial year that are unpaid after the due date of each instalment. Any penalty will be applied to unpaid rates on the day following the due date of the instalment.

A further 10 per cent penalty calculated on former years’ rate arrears will be added on the first business day of the new financial year (or five days after the rates resolution is adopted, whichever is the later) and then again six months later.

Spot the difference ?

Auckland council  imposes penalties  on each installment where as the act  applies it to the rates assessed in  the  financial year and does not  speak of penalties for parts of rates  .

The rates are set for a financial year in this case being  1 July 2014  to 30 June 2015   in the rate assessment which we have before us is for  $4510.81.

There is an  ability to  pay it  by instalment  ,  or pay the lump sum which gives  a  saving of a whole 1.1% . $4461.18. a saving of a whopping $46.63

Relevant here is Section 24 Due date or dates for payment,  in the interpretation section due date, is defined as : in relation to a rate or part of a rate, means the last day for payment of the rate, or part of the rate, that is set out in the rates assessment

The question has to be   : can “ a penalty on rates assessed in the financial year for which the resolution is made and that are unpaid after the due date for payment” be interpreted to mean a part rate ?

The assessment  notice reads  total rates payable  2014/2015 is $4510.81  to us this means that  by 30 June 2015, $4510.81 needs to  have been paid  being the financial year as   determined by  45 (1) (j).  and most importantly  45 (1) (k)  which states “the total amount of rates payable on the rating unit for the financial year”

while Auckland council asks for  the  payments to be made by four equal installments , the overall obligation is to clear the rates due  in that financial year .

The regime  should be more in line   with retail  being

  1.  the price which is due  on the due date  .. in this case  $4510.81 by 30 June 2015
  2. the  discounted price if paid  in its entirety early, this is usually heavily discounted
  3. The price if paid by installments which should be equal to  or  as an incentive less than the  demanded price

At all times the  right to pay the full  rates demand   by the  30th June  in one payment should  remain an option  as that  way you are  payign your entire rates in the year that it is due.

If you were to  pay it in a lump sum  under the  Auckland council regime , and still be complying with legislation you would  incur  penalties  of $338.10 ( being as stated on the notice  $122.70 per installment ). Compare the  extra  penalties  for being complaint with the law  to  the savings  for paying  early  one gives you a penalty of $33.10 the other a saving of just $46.63 a difference  of   $291.47, so why   is the money in Auckland councils pocket worth more than in yur pocket.. should it not be at least equal ?

more in part 2  the juiciest is yet to come.

Transparency International Finally uses the C word

launderwideTransparency International New Zealand has tried so hard to ignore the corruption in New Zealand  but has finally  conceded that    we have it.  In their latest news letter they mention  no less than three items .

New Zealand Shell Companies Involved in Huge Money-laundering Operation

New Zealand shell companies may have played a part in the biggest money-laundering operation in Eastern Europe. A recent investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) exposed an enormous US$20 billion ($24.4 billion) transfer of dirty Russian funds, dubbed ‘the Laundromat’. Read the story by Richard Meadows in stuff.co.nz.

Evidence of corruption a National scandal – Harre

Internet Party leader Laila Harre will take evidence of corruption to international forums if there is not a full Royal Commission to investigate the growing evidence of the systematic use and abuse of democratic institutions and processes for political gain

Money, politics and scandal in New Zealand’s election

Post election, Washington based Lisa Rosenburg of the Sunlight Foundation, and former legislative assistant to Senator John Kerry, suggested that New Zealand will need to address weaknesses in its political finance system to retain “its squeaky clean reputation and its first place as the least corrupt nation…” sunlightfoundation.com/money-politics-and-scandal-in-new-zealands-election

The article by Richard Meadow refers to web site Naked Capitalism.  In a recent article   on that  site  Richard Smith   states

GT Group was linked to the biggest money-laundering operation in US history.

It does not  take much searching to  find that a variety of   GT group companies  which survived being struck off  have found  a new registered office at  the EQUITY GROUP , others have been registered  again using the names of the struck off companies as shown below.

Companies registered to the premises of Equity group  frequently use the very same  directors  identified as  proxy directors  in  international press   . In this case we look at Leah Toureleo  of  B.p. 1487, 1 Port Vila, Pot 540208, Port Vila , Vanuatu  who is as is mentioned in the  Richard meadows story NZ firm named in huge European scam

Leah Toureleo has the following  active companies

PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL GROUP CO., LIMITED (3934638) Registered Company
Leah Toureleo appointed as a director on 27 Jul 2012 overseas registered company   about to be struck off the address 24b Moorefield Road

Seems to be another busy little  office   it is a medical center  see this interesting post  http://www.blakjak.net/node/1312

 

GOLDAGE GROUP CO., LIMITED (3934658) Registered Company
Leah Toureleo appointed as a director on 27 Jul 2012   overseas registered company   about to be struck off reg office Room 4, 221a Dominion Road, Auckland, only two companies registered here and both about to  be struck off

 

IRVINESTON LIMITED (3239028) Registered Company
Leah Toureleo appointed as a director on 14 Nov 2013 Registered Office
TROPIC ALLIANCE LIMITED, 7 Rose Road, for more on this address see naked capitalism

DORNOCK LIMITED (3239007) Registered Company
Leah Toureleo appointed as a director on 14 Nov 2013 Registered Office
TROPIC ALLIANCE LIMITED, 7 Rose Road,

the director   of tropic alliance  lives in Inga 9a-31 Zaubes, Riga, LV1013 , Latvia

Now these next four companies have something in common they all had  the receptionist at  this  former law firm  as their  director , she resigned last year when she was warned her about  the dangers of being a proxy director ( see news links  below )   these companies   continue to exist with Leah Toureleo as  their director

WELKIN BUSINESS LIMITED (3665631) Registered Company
Leah Toureleo  appointed as a director on 29 Mar 2013 owned by Trust NZ holdings   –  director  xxxxxxx

SELBY LIMITED (3665671) Registered Company
Leah Toureleo  appointed as a director on 29 Mar 2013 owned by Trust NZ holdings   –  director  xxxxxxx

This is a phoenix company  of  SELBY LIMITED(2466848) (NZBN: 9429031562881) Struck off NZ Limited Company it was  registered to 1504 B, 363 Queen Street, Auckland, New Zealand which was pat of  the Taylor group.  the new company was incorporated  by EQUITY TRUST INTERNATIONAL LIMITED just a few months after the  companies office struck the other off

4-WAY LOGISTICS LIMITED (3589351) Registered Company
Leah Toureleo  appointed as a director on 29 Mar 2013 owned by Trust NZ holdings   –  director xxxxxxx

MAXIMUS CORPORATION LIMITED (3589616) Registered Company
Leah Toureleo  appointed as a director on 29 Mar 2013  owned by Club property (xxxxx)  this company is a phoenix  company for

MAXIMUS CORPORATION LIMITED (2454570) (NZBN: 9429031578738) Struck off NZ Limited Company Level 4, 44 Khyber Pass Road, Grafton, Auckland, 1023, New Zealand,  this company was  originally set up by the Gt Group

The receptionist had one further  company  that she was director of this company  now has the  wife of the  director of this this companies director     who is also a  lawyer this company is Eurostone Holdings Limited

for News   items on   Glenn Smith  69 Ridge Road, Lucas Heights, North Shore  ( Company Net ) see

Web of intrigue – crime – national | Stuff.co.nz

New Zealand as a rogue financial state

NZ shell companies in Kyrgyz corruption | Stuff.co.nz

New Zealand, Fresh From Its Service to Mexican Drug Lords

Complaint – Securities and Exchange Commission

Traseks Ltd., is a corporation incorporated under the laws ofPanama on
February 9, 2009, with its principal place of business located at 69 Ridge Road, Albany,
Auckland, New Zealand. Traseks, Ltd. received $976,302, wired during April through
July 2009 from Rockford’s Bank ofAmerica and Banco Popular Bank Accountsto an
account in its name at JSC Multibanka in Riga, Latvia.

Reserve Bank warns public – money – business | Stuff.co.nz

RBNZ warns on dodgy ‘Bancorp’ pyramid scheme claiming

Reserve Bank warns public – Stuff

1766 defunct New Zealand companies at 69, Ridge Road, Albany,

News items  re proxy directors and activities of companies  of  Leah Toureleo  see below and  at this link click here

Sep 2, 2010 Lu Zhang, 28, is accused of 75 offences of making false statements in company registration forms after she declared her office address was her …
www.stuff.co.nz/…/Company-director-with-alleged-arms-links-in-court
Sep 3, 2010 Lu Zhang, 28, is charged with 75 counts of making false statements in company registration forms – by the seemingly minor act of declaring her …
www.stuff.co.nz/national/4090241/Mystery-arms-firm-director-revealed
May 29, 2011 Lu Zhang, below, is its director. launder2 . launder3. Stella Port-Louis, of the Seychelles, is director of four Queen St companies linked to illegal …
www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/latest-edition/…/Web-of-intrigue
Jan 11, 2010 The signature over it has no resemblance to the signature of Lu Zhang in the New Zealand incorporation documents. The cost of the charter is …
www.stuff.co.nz/national/3218894/Papers-confirm-arms-going-to-Iran
Nov 5, 2010 Former fast-food worker Lu Zhang, 28, was the sole director of Queen St registered SP Trading Ltd, a company that hired a plane discovered at …
www.stuff.co.nz/dominion…/Chinese-warning-on-court-case-angers-judge
Feb 13, 2010 Police National Headquarters in Wellington said it was still investigating SP but would not discuss individuals, including Lu Zhang.
www.stuff.co.nz/business/3323439/Change-of-director-for-shell-company
Oct 20, 2010 SP Trading former director Lu Zhang was later charged with 75 counts of making false statements in company registration forms, and appeared …
www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/…/NZ-a-target-for-arms-traders-Oxfam
Jan 15, 2010 SP’s director is Lu Zhang whose registered residential address is 369 Queen … that on December 21 detectives here interviewed Lu Zhang.
www.stuff.co.nz/national/3231635/Police-given-details-of-arms-flight-client
Feb 12, 2010 Police National Headquarters in Wellington said they were still investigating SP but would not discuss individuals including Lu Zhang.
www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/3318708/Thailand-drops-gun-running-charges
Jan 13, 2010 SP Trading Ltd – formed last year with a woman, Lu Zhang, who cannot be located, as its director – is part of a web of hundreds of companies …
www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/…/Director-breach-punishable-by-jail

Lets put justice back in New Zealand

Open letter / OIA to Minister of Justice

This letter has been published on www.Transparency.net.nz and broadcasted via social media

I also  refer to a previous open letter to you “What justice system “ and statement you made in this news article where you stated “it’s a court of law not a court of justice”.

I have become aware through being sued in our courts for speaking the truth and for exposing serious corruption that our courts are on a par with our casinos.Except that  our casinos have more security issues in place to prevent abuse.

We apparently fare no better than the Wild West it appears to be a free for all in our courts with no ENFORCEABLE systems or processes  to give those taken to court any protection .

When truth and evidence are not factors we cannot have justice. The justice sector by not providing prosecutions for perjury is failing the people

It appears  to me, that the course of justice has been averted. Those in the middle income group who own their own houses are a very good target. Their houses are now worth going after and what better way than to bring a massive financial burden on to them, costs which no one can possibly budget for.

This means that those with means and those who are lawyers themselves can totally abuse the court system for their own advantage and write the costs off as a tax advantage while forcing the other party to hire a lawyer .

If you do not hire a lawyer and defend  yourself you become prey to the dirty legal tricks which deny justice and which is apparently allowed in our Legal system .

Our Justice sector fails in its task to “to make society safer and provide accessible justice services.”

Court has become a tool of oppression , why use a baseball bat to steal some ones wallet when you can use a lawyer and get their house and anything done through a lawyer is apparently legal .

Truth, evidence and integrity have no place in our courts and it appears that you can bring civil claims based on nothing but hogwash . Once the papers are served it is for your opponent to spend funds on lawyers, money which they cannot recover due to the oppressor cleverly hiding all their assets before they start.
I have experienced instances where the civil jurisdiction is being used to pervert the course of justice.

Police simply won’t act if a matter is before the court and without evidence the civil jurisdiction supported by the total lack of rights to the Universal Declaration of Human rights

Some Lawyers appear to use the court to pervert the cause of justice by using the civil jurisdiction to conceal criminal offending.While it is a crime to beat someone up with a baseball bat it appears to be sanctioned if done with a lawyer and legal tactics.

The fact that immense stress and bullying has health repercussions is not even considered a factor and neither must the person being beaten up show any emotion because that is another black mark against them.

I am a former police prosecutor and through my involvement in the Civil court have found that our bill of rights in New Zealand does not afford the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial court to those in the civil jurisdiction this is totally out of step with the Universal declaring of Human rights .

I have previously made an OIA request with this regard and  your staff have responded .

I would By way of OIA request further Documentation and discussion papers which examine
1. Why criminal judgements confidential when all civil judgements are published, are both not equally accountable to the public records act.

2. Why convictions in the criminal jurisdiction are not a matter of public record and accessible to all yet civil matters gets full and permanent publicity

3. Criminals have advantage of the clean slate act yet those in the civil jurisdiction are accountable to the decisions for ever , this appears to be a disparity has this been considered and discussed if not why not

4. What the threshold for perjury is and to what degree that drifting from the truth is acceptable before any one is prosecuted, and who prosecutes when the police are under resourced and overburdened?

5. What consideration the minister of justice has given to the use of the civil jurisdiction to pervert the course of justice in the criminal jurisdiction? – To this end, those engaged in crime tend to have more funds than whistle-blowers. Any one coming across a crime has a choice of becoming an accessory by concealing it or speaking up. When they speak up they find themselves under attack from the “would be” criminal and legal tactics rather than truth and evidence are used to financially cripple them. Law is not affordable to the average person and the costs of being taken to court is crippling it is a tool by which the rich and the corrupt can beat up those who are trying to survive. An hour for a lawyer is a weeks wages for the average New Zealander . Law has got out of hand.

6. If the minister of Justice has no way of delivering justice has the minister considered ways to put justice in place or otherwise renaming the ministry.

Our courts need to give protection to the citizens of this country. To allow the courts to be used in appropriately is an abuse of process which I believe the Minister of Justice should seek to prevent.

I look forward to your response.

I am standing as an Independent for Epsom and will make this an election issue.

 Update  see response from Judith Collins re justice

New Zealand’s reputation for being corruption-free is a load of hogwash

liesI recently  did  an official information act request to Judith Collins seeking  her source of information  for being consistently quoted as stating that New Zealand is the least corrupt .

In the response she states  that this is the perception index  yet   far too often she  makes the statement as though it is   fact and not  a mere illusion  One such instance is  in  her address to parliament where she erroneously   interprets this to mean ” Corruption free ”

“New Zealand’s reputation for being corruption-free is one of its biggest assets internationally. People who do business and invest in New Zealand know they can trust our laws and our Government to protect their rights and freedoms. New Zealand’s ranking by Forbes as the best country for doing business is in part due to the high trust in our public sector. Well done, New Zealand.”

If the ‘corruption free ” statement was made by a company it would be  held accountable under the fair trading act.

National are slapping themselves on the back  for  the low levels of corruption  by  actively concealing corruption and preventing people from speaking about it  as is evident in this question by  MP Grant Robertson 29 May 2014:

I would ask why it is that I am unable to ask a question that is legitimately to the Minister of Justice about the question of corruption and bribery—and I quoted from a Ministry of Justice fact sheet, which describes that as abuse of one’s position of power—and I am not allowed to ask questions about Ministers who bullied somebody—

Ross Robertson will retire for Government this year   without seeing his bill  Members of Parliament (Code of Ethical Conduct) Bill [PDF 148k] being passed.

Current chair of GOPAC (Global organisation of parliamentarians agaisnt corruption ) is Andrew  Little , he has a hard job a head of him when   our minister of justice   states that  we are corruption free  and also states ( at 1.05 )that in New Zealand there is no court of  justice .  To me this is a contradiction of terms .

My petition for a commission agaisnt corruption was presented this week . I have little doubt that   it will be viewed  seriously for as long as we do not label or define corruption we wont have any .

I have still to hear form John Key with  regards to my request to him,  I suspect that this has been filed in his drawer until one day he needs to pull it out  in a tit for tat trade off against an opposition minister .

National  appears to thrive on corruption  and  to act in the name of corruption would be  to clip their own  wings  .

I have come to the conclusion that a government which will not let you  question corruption must be corrupt .  Time for a change me thinks.

National integrity System -TINZ

Last week I was in Brisbane at a conference and work shop  co hosted by Griffith University  and transparency International Using Anti-Corruption to Protect Growth and Development in the G20 and Beyond.

Much of the focus of the work shop was to  explore the  national integrity system  ( NIS ) and how various countries had interpreted the  guidelines and   come out with their reports.

While it was clear that  Transparency International  saw corruption as  the  key element it transpired that  TINZ ( Transparency International New Zealand ) had not included this in their assessment .

Suzanne Snively made two presentations at one she   pointed out that   TINZ is not funded and they have trouble getting  members, I guess this is evident when new members  sign up and immediately become directors .  She made no mention of the  Members who  were leaving because they were so overwhelmed out being outnumbered by  the Government agencies which  appear to control  TINZ and hence  the resulting finding that New Zealand has the least corrupt public sector in the world.  see the  NIS report here

We all do well if we blow  our own trumpet , any way  Suzanne’s presentations are

Suzanne Snively and Daniel King – A national perspective

Suzanne Snively and Daniel King – Adapting the NIS to a ‘developed’ country: environment, business and the Treaty of Waitangi

When referring to the presentation of Finn Heinrich –  Where does it come from?  How does it work?   What is needed for the future? you can see that he refers to  two Crucial Ingredients  to provide Momentum for Anti-Corruption Reform  they are

  1. Strong Evidence on Integrity System & Practice
  2. Engagement with key  stakeholders in a country

Lets evaluate these criteria  against the current New Zealand Climate

Strong Evidence on Integrity System & Practice

Currently we have a spat  going on pre election  between our  two main parties. It is a Tit  for tat and   we are slinging mud to repel  corruption allegations, this is basically our anti corruption  system  at work, name calling at school play ground level.

The latest  spat   has occurred  after our minister of justice   took time out on her  ministerial trip to promote   milk  for a Chinese company of which her husband has been made director, I have reported on the matter in full   at this link 

The next blow came  to National  when Maurice Williamson was  discovered to have been supporting the citizenship of  Donghua Liu  against  official advice .

Last year the Mayor of Auckland   was caught with his pants down  and at the time  Mr key had this to  say “I’ve had plenty of people who’ve rung me up with information about Labour MPs,” he said.
“And I’ve done the same thing to every person that’s rung me. I’ve written it down, put it in my top drawer and kept it to myself. I’m just not interested in engaging in it.
http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/john-key-keeps-dirt-file-labour-mps-video-5655493

It is very  obvious  that  the top drawer has now been opened and  they have had to dig deep to find the  dirt which they  can throw back at labour.

The reality is that the   Prime ministers act of keeping  dirt in his top drawer is in itself a corrupt act as  each and every incident reported to him should  be passed on   for independent investigation  at the time the issue arises  and not held on to until a blackmail-able opportunity arises

There simply is no integrity in  stockpiling  dirt on the opposition – this allows  corruption to be traded off with corruption , each  act should be independently evaluated and the  perpetrators charged if evidence is sufficient.

Engagement with key  stakeholders in a country

While Whistleblowers are seen as essential any where else in the world  (Grzegorz Makowski – Cross-cutting problems in the NIS: corruption of anti-corruption policies; whistleblower protection; human rights protection) TINZ prefers to ignore us.  this is like   doing a   report on  the operations of a company and leaving out the  shoppers  .

There are two sides to any system, the one  looking out  and the one looking in.  the systems my look in place but if they are not user friendly or are designed to be counter productive against corruption then the system  has no integrity .

I would have thought that   it would be a serious matter for some one to make an application for law enforcement powers  using false information, after all people are  taken to task for benefit  fraud and the like every day  , but it appears that the bigger it is the more people   that are implicated and the  more systems that are shown to be  unsafe   then  more reasons exist to deny  what has happened and simply carry on.  look no issue .. too hard  lets move on .

The key  stake holders on the other hand who were engaged with  were the members of TINZ,  and the  funders  , these include Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet

  Moving on

TINZ   appears to be too closely aligned with government   so much so that    those ministers  who are engaging on corrupt practices rely on the  NIS   to refute any claims  e.g.

“Ms Collins says the Government values its close working relationship with Transparency International New Zealand and she looks forward to working through the report’s recommendations.”

Not bad since her ministry paid to  get the report done .

I have again asked Suzanne Snively if I can join TINZ  see my email here email application jun 2014 .. will keep you posted

 

 

Open letter to Mr Key – will you condone corruption?

corruptionOpen letter to Prime Minister.

I refer to the cabinet manual 2.53

“In all these roles and at all times, Ministers are expected to act lawfully and to behave in a way that upholds, and is seen to uphold, the highest ethical standards.

Ultimately, Ministers are accountable to the Prime Minister for their behaviour.”

In 2001 the then minister of Agriculture, Jim Sutton gave approval for the Animal Welfare Institute of New Zealand to become an approved organisation under the animal welfare act 1999.

Section 122 of the act requires that the minister must be satisfied “by the production to the Minister of suitable evidence” that the “organisation “complied with the criteria as set out in sections 122 (1) (a) – (e).

It has transpired that the Animal Welfare Institute of New Zealand (AWINZ) had no legal existence, It had no members, structure or existence beyond that of only one man. There was no Organisation, no body of persons had held a meeting or made a decision to make an application for the coercive law enforcement powers.

I have over the years made a number of OIA requests from the MPI and have conclusively established that.
1. The application for approved status for the Animal Welfare Institute of New Zealand was fraudulent

a. Mr Neil Wells made the application on behalf of an alleged trust knowing that no trust existed .
b. The statement with regards to the trust having been formed by way of trust deed was false and known to be false by Mr Wells a statement he was to attempt to retrospectively cover up in 2006.
c. The persons named as the alleged trustees had never formally met together as a trust, signed a trust deed, or discussed the application for approved status under the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act 1999.
d. Section 10 of the application, the institute’s compliance with section 122, sought to mislead and deceive the minister as an organisation which does not exist cannot comply with the criteria.

2. The minister relied on MAF advising him with regards to the trust deed, the reality was that there was no trust deed and no signed deed was ever considered or sighted. This ensured that the ministry staff evaluated the application on a worthless and meaningless document which had not been consented or agreed to by any persons.

3. Mr Neil Edward Wells who had appointed himself as Manager (10.4 of the application) was the former Head of the RNZSPCA, in 1996 he wrote a business plan for his own personal ambition to integrate council’s dog and stock control with Animal welfare which was a central government concern. He called the service Territorial animal welfare service .

4. Mr Wells was well connected with the MPI (MAF at the time) and through this and his party connections (Labour) came to write the No 1 Bill for the new animal welfare legislation this bill was written with his personal business aspirations in mind.

5. Mr Wells served as an Independent Specialist Adviser to the Primary Production Select Committee during the consideration stages of the Bills but no record has ever been located of any declaration of his conflict of interest.

6. During 2000 Mr Wells and his associate Tom Didovich provided the minister and the ministry with information which appeared to be legitimate, however neither the minister not the ministry verified

a. The legal status or existence of AWINZ

b. The consent and knowledge of Waitakere council in providing funding, staff resources and infrastructure for the venture.

c. The knowledge and consent for the alleged trustees named on the fraudulent application

7. Records show that the policy advisors for the ministry of Agriculture were opposed to the granting of the application despite having previously assisted Mr Wells. MAF officials had voiced their concerns with regards to Mr Wells’s undeclared conflict of interest.

8. Consent was finally given after the application went to the labour caucus after Neil Wells was able to comment on and amend the caucus papers and allegedly briefed his former work colleague, Bob Harvey who at the time was the president of the labour party and Mayor of Waitakere City Council.

9. In 2006 as a result of an enquiry from a Waitakere dog control officer I established conclusively that

a. There was no legal person by the name of the Animal Welfare institute of New Zealand
b. Neither MAF nor Waitakere council who both contracted to AWINZ held a signed trust deed.
c. The law enforcement authority AWINZ was not identifiable.

10. Despite AWINZ not existing the then Minister of Agriculture Jim Anderton did not consider that AWINZ no longer complied with section 122 and did not revoke the approved status, he too was deceived as to the existence of AWINZ due to a group of persons posing as AWINZ and despite lacking evidence claiming to be the law enforcement authority . These persons were Tom Didovich, Neil Wells, Graeme Coutts and Wyn Hoadley. Not one of these persons (other than Wells) had been a party to the application process or consented to it.

11. This deception continued through the next minister’s term off office and David Carter was similarly deceived.

12. In a series Official information act requests I have established that MPI do not know who the legal persons were who represented the law enforcement authority and it would appear from the latest response ,that they did nothing to investigate the consequences of having a fictional law enforcement authority .

I have recently discovered submissions by Mr Wells for the Animal Welfare Amendment Act , curiously he does not mention his involvement with AWINZ at all  but in these he points out the seriousness of this situation by pointing out that New Zealand is only one of two countries to have a private law enforcement authority (the other is Australia).

Mr Wells in his submissions states “Legal commentators maintain that the enforcement and prosecution of criminal law (animal welfare offences are crimes) are the responsibility of the state and not private organisations that have no public accountability.

He goes on to state “There are (in NZ) three types of enforcement and prosecuting authorities — the Police, the Ministry for Primary Industry, and approved organisations. “

And “MPI does not have the resources to be able to deliver national enforcement and prosecution services on its own for all animal welfare complaints and is totally dependent on approved organisations. This creates an enormous risk for government.”

AWINZ was an approved organisation yet it did not exist, no one knew who comprised it, ran it, apart from Mr Wells who was not given law enforcement powers in his own name but obtained it fraudulently in a fictional name and then acted on behalf of that fictional body.

The act, section 122, requires that the Minister must be satisfied – by the production to the Minister of suitable evidence – before declaring an organisation to be an approved organisation for the purposes of the Act.

For the decision of several Ministers to have been lawful evidence must exist which shows

1. Who the legal persons were who applied for the law enforcement powers and
2. The legal basis upon which the ministers granted law enforcement powers to a trading name for person or persons unknown and had belief that there was accountability to the public.

If that evidence does not exist then there is another option and that is that successive ministers were deceived.

If this is the case the government has two options

1. To condone fraudulent applications to the crown for law enforcement authority or
2. Instigate a full ministerial enquiry into the matter and hold all those who played a part in the deception accountable to the full force of the law.

The current Minister, Nathan Guy appears to have distanced himself from this matter despite repeated requests for him to conduct a ministerial enquiry into this deception. Every request I write to him is routinely handed over to the MPI. The MPI do not hold the evidence and quite clearly under the act it is for the minister to be in possession of the suitable evidence which satisfies him, it is therefore clear that if there is any evidence as to the legitimacy of the application of AWINZ and the existence of AWINZ then it must be held by the minister.

If the minister does not hold that information then the minister cannot condone a fraudulent act of this magnitude. It is also not a responsible action just to ignore the issue. (Ignorance of the law is no excuse Crimes act 1961)

Fraud is a crime and obtaining law enforcement powers for one of only two approved organisations is serious, it is even more serious when the law was enforced through this fraud and I have evidence that it was.

I did not intend to be a Whistle blower, I simply raised issues which I believed were in the public interest to raise in what was reported to be the world’s least corrupt country. I asked

1. Why did the minister give law enforcement powers to a fictional organisation
2. Why was the manager of a council dog and stock control unit contracting to himself in a fictional name

Those two questions have devastated my life and that of my family, I have had a total cold shoulder from the government for 8 years now. I have been treated like the villain in a tactic which I now recognise as classic Darvo where the roles of villain and victim are reversed.

I have been persecuted thought the courts on defamation claims for which I was denied a defence of truth and honest opinion, skipped formal proof and went straight to sentencing.

My crime has been to speak the truth and speak up on a matter of serious public corruption, it has been 8 years I have had every bit of spin and every bit of avoidance, it is painfully obvious that no one knows who the law enforcement authority was and there was no accountability to the public.

I should not be the scape goat. If New Zealand wished to strive to be the least corrupt country in the world then it would instigate a full investigation into this matter and see that whistle blowers are compensated as intended by the United Nations convention against corruption.

While New Zealand is still covering up corruption it will never be able to ratify the convention. We cannot continue to pretend that there is no corruption the only way to deal with it is to meet it head on.

I therefore ask for you Mr Key to direct that the minister for MPI conduct a full investigation into this matter together with lawyers versed in criminal law and Trusts.

I am happy to assist I am a former Police Prosecuting Sergeant and am currently a licenced Private investigator, the matter is already well investigated and researched.

Additionally I request financial assistance to relieve the financial hardship which I am experiencing due to having blown the whistle. I would not be in the position that I find myself in today if the government had acted responsibly and relied on evidence rather than hearsay.

I will soon be attending an international anti-corruption conference and hope that I can report that NZ is taking corruption seriously. I will also send a copy of this to the United Nations for their reference and also publish this on www.transparency.net.nz
I see this as a true test of the ethics of our current government.

A government for businesses.

we the peopleIn the famous Gettysburg  address Abraham Lincoln stated

  “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”

Well he was wrong  , the year was  1863 and  New Zealand was still in  its infancy   and no one  would have thought that this would be the country  where  democracy  would become a farce.

We vote  for the members, in a competition  where by money rules , those supported through secret trusts   and  large businesses have the biggest adverting   budget and we all know how effective advertising is

Once into office the  debt to  the sponsors needs to be  re paid .  There are  several ways of  doing this  so as to make it look like it is an open an transparent process

One way is through the New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust.

This is a charitable trust which was set up in 1991  by PATRICK LEDGER GOODMAN and DRYDEN THOMAS SPRING  “To advance and encourage business understanding of Parliament and parliamentarians’ understanding of the business community of New Zealand’

( a quick look at their backgrounds  shows  that they are very well connected

GOODMAN  one of the wealthiest families in New Zealand and Australia, with an estimated worth of $A770 million see also Goodman dynasty cooks up recipe for success

SPRING held a number of directorships including Nufarm Ltd., Maersk NZ Ltd., Affco Ltd., Fletcher Building Ltd., Sky City Entertainment Group Ltd., Northport Ltd., Deputy Chairman of Goodman Fielder Ltd., Chairman of Ericcson NZ Ltd. Chairman Of Tenon Ltd., Deputy Chairman Of Ports Of Auckland Ltd., Deputy Chairman of The Rural Banking and Finance Corp of New Zealand. He was formerly a member of The APEC Eminent Persons Group, which in 1993 drafted the APEC Vision of Free and Open Trade in the Asia Pacific, a member of APEC Business Advisory Council, Chairman of Asia New Zealand Foundation,

the members are listed  here

Each business has an MP assigned to them ( called associate members ) they are listed here some companies e.g. Fonterra  has several MPs .

So while we the mere mortals  who  believe we live in a  democratic society have difficulty in accessing our MPS  this is not so  for  big  business.

There does not appear to be any legislation which supports MPs membership to  this trust  and I have done an OIA to clarify this .

I have also asked if we can set up   an organization along the same lines which  educates MPs with regards to  corruption

until we get an independent commission agaisnt corruption we will have

Government  of our businesses  by those who have been sponsored  by businesses to support businesses.

I also have to  wonder  why David Cunliffe  was the only one to disclose  his role in the New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust.