I received a reply from TINZ director David McNeill in response to my post Open letter to David McNeill Director Transparency International New Zealand
the email can be found here response from TINZ director David McNeill
In the interest of transparency I publish my response
From: Grace Haden [mailto:grace@verisure.co.nz]
Sent: Wednesday, 9 August 2017 11:37 a.m.
To: ‘David McNeill’ <dm@ti.org.nz>
Subject: RE: open letter to David Mc Neil
Thank you for your response David
I am sorry that you don’t agree with the methods I use to pursue my case but after 11 years I think I have tried everything to bring this matter to the attention of the authorities and misters .
Should bringing corruption to the attention of the government be this hard ?
If it is ignored what does it say about our values?
The only reason I have kept on with it is because it has cost me so much it cost me my marriage and my family not to mention the obscene sum of money which was taken t from me through the subsequent fraud on the court where Wyn Hoadley Barrister, Graeme courts JP and Tom Didovich the conflicted former manager Waitakere city council dog control along with Wells set up a similarly named trust and passed themselves off as the law enforcement authority .. a total legal nonsense but the names were the same so it was OK
I acted in good faith on a matter of public interest which I raised with the purest of intentions after a council employee had come to me .
In becoming a vocal whistle-blower I also became a go to person for those with issues of their own . In the 11 years at the coal face of corruption I have found why corruption is so prevalent in New Zealand and I thought that this information would be of use to TINZ.
How can you work on the issues of integrity , change of policy and political attitude if you yourselves remain uninformed of what is occurring and shun whistle-blowers.
You ask “If Neil Wells is so horribly corrupt, who is he exploiting now?” well the short answer is that he died last week but the legacy of what he set in action lives on.
He has proved that in New Zealand
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writing legislation for your own business plan is condoned.
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you can be an independent adviser to the select committee on matters in which you have a personal financial interest.
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you can make a fraudulent application for Law enforcement powers and influence the decision makers
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Those investigating an application for statutory powers do not check if the organisation exists or any alleged fact
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Obtain your own legal opinion for government and have input into it
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You can draft your own documents for the government
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You can contract to councils and government department using a fictional name MOU Waitakere MOU MAF
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That he can influence the government department to such an extent that the Whistle-blower is discredited and no one verifies that a fraud has occurred or not .
Simply put he has proved that if you make it easy for the public servant , have their trust and liaise with them frequently and meet with minister then you can get them to accept anything and they won’t check. Rule number one never verify . Being a barrister helps after all a man of the law knows and would never be corrupt .
Ironically today there is an article in the newspaper “SPCA confiscates man’s dog based on ‘hearsay’, he claims “ this is very relevant currently the RNZSPCA is undertaking a very dodgy “ amalgamation “ and will be focusing on the inspectorate which will see more personal properties raided by persons who are privately employed. But that is not for now
You say “We see the global trend towards tip-offs and leaks being more effective than formal whistleblowing” Please tell me the difference . If I am screaming corruption now it’s probably because after 11 years of hitting my head against a wall and having my reputation maligned it’s the only thing left to do .
You state “Transparency International NZ “approaches corruption in a different way, attempting to give the whole system more tools & techniques for exposing and preventing corruption. ‘ How can you prevent corruption when you don’t know what the symptoms are ?
Cancer left untreated will kill you corruption left untreated will kill our country and indeed will have killed many in its path . I know this as at one stage I was suicidal .
My criticism of TINZ has been that you prefer not to know about corruption and appear hell bent on portraying New Zealand as the least corrupt to enhance business interest. When I heard Jose Ugaz speak I was heartened I would never have thought that you belong to the same organisation .
You have no idea how difficult it is to see transparency International run programmes such as WHISTLEBLOWING FOR CHANGE, etc yet be shunned by your local branch .
ON https://www.transparency.org/topic/detail/whistleblowing/ the following appears
This opens up onto https://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/activity/our_work_on_whistleblow
ing
“ Through our Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres, located in nearly 50 countries, we advise whistleblowers in making their disclosures and work to make sure that their disclosures are duly addressed by appropriate authorities.”
The international body recognises the importance of Whistle-blowers
“ There is growing awareness of the important role whistleblowing plays in stopping corruption. “
yet TINZ say this approach is wrong.”
“We see the global trend towards tip-offs and leaks being more effective than formal whistleblowing.”
I did not wake up one day and decide to become a whistle-blower.
I was a mother had a family of three teenagers thought I was happily married , I helped a lady at Waitakere city council and my whole life changed . this should not happen to any one !
I found something that was very wrong and raised questions with MAF and Waitakere city council which I thought were the appropriate bodies
Rather than checking out my claims they colluded with the perpetrator who then took me to court for defamation, deceived the court and got a judgement against me by denying me the statutory right of defence. That judgement has been waved about ever since to discredit me.
My marriage was simultaneously attacked and my funds were frozen I could not fight back .Lawyers cost money . when My matrimonial property was settles I got a lawyer he happened to be Evgeny orlov who fleeced me and was himself embroiled in matters relating to the panama papers . He had no credibility with the court and was at one stage struck off , just my hard luck that he was my lawyer .
In 2007 Mr Wells wrote to MAF that he intended to bankrupt me . over the years he advised them as to what to and was kept in the loop with every OIA I made and allowed to make comment . see here for another example
The down side of publishing on transparency NZ has been that it allowed Wells and Hoadley to engage a Private investigator who then assisted in muddying the waters. The intention was to deny me my PI licence . five years later they have succeeded putting me out of work at age 64 from a career which is an extension of my police career which commenced when I was 21
I was discredited even to my own children . what I have been fighting for is to get my reputation back
While Neil Wells was portrayed to be good I was made out to be a sinister person
Just prior to his death I found a news item on the law society news Censured lawyer gets name suppression , I recognised the events and from this have speculated that Mr Wells was actually a corrupt barrister . I was charged with alleged breach of a suppression order , the police didn’t need evidence to charge me , it took them 6 weeks to find something that could at a stretch be an order but in reality is vague .
Our biggest issue with corruption in New Zealand is that we thrive on perception , make someone out to be bad and they are bad forever and no one will ever look at the evidence .
Evidence is what Jose Ugaz felt is essential in proving corruption but evidence plays no part in our courts.
Barristers such as Neil Wells and their legal representatives have the ability to influence the court without any evidence this is reflected in a speech made in 2014 by : Justice Helen Winkelmann – Chief High Court Judge of New Zealand (Helen Winkelmann’s 2014 Address).
“There is also another aspect to the adversarial model which depends upon legal representation. It is the reliance that judges place upon counsel to never knowingly mislead the court in matters of fact or law. This duty of counsel enables the system to function efficiently and maintains its integrity. It frees the Judge from having to conduct his or her own inquiries to independently check the veracity of what they are told by counsel. For counsel this duty flows from the fact that counsel are officers of the court. It is also a manifestation of the obligation on all lawyers to uphold the rule of law, an obligation now given statutory recognition in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006”
David the process of holding lawyers accountable to the rule of law is long and again the lawyers word is preferred over the complainant.
I have lost my PI licence , the matter is still under review by the LCRO, I was accused of harassing a lawyer for telling him that he had an obligation to the rule of law and could not use his office for fraud.
Such is New Zealand today have not even touched on to another raft of issues.
I am sure that we could work well together we would both like to see corruption contained and by providing policies that work much grief can be avoided.
I wonder if the Joanne Harrison matter could have been prevented if the lessons which could have been learned from AWINZ had been implemented.
No one should have to go through what I have had to endure there is only one way forward and that is by providing transparency .
I would like to join TI NZ we can learn from each other .
Regards
Grace Haden
Phone (09) 520 1815
mobile 027 286 8239
visit us at www.transparency.net.nz
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