Thompson pleads guilty
The Dom Post reports:
Former Immigration Service boss Mary Anne Thompson has pleaded guilty to using her CV fraudulently, enabling her to get senior government positions.
Thompson, 54, of Karori, had claimed she had a doctorate from the London School of Economics.
In Wellington District Court this afternoon, Judge Bruce Davidson gave a sentencing indication that Thompson would be fined $10,000 and given 100 hours’ community work.
She pleaded guilty before trial, in a deal that saw the three charges she faced reduced to one.
In a way it is a pity there is no trial, because I was interested to hear how this all happened – ie what led Thompson to claim she had a Doctorate. Now we may never know.
While Thompson did not perform at Immigration, she was highly regarded in her former roles at Treasury and DPMC. The whole affair has been quite strange.
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:37 pm
You can fool some of the people some of ———etc.etc.
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:43 pm
She played the PC game quite skillfully. I simply do not accept that while she failed in her immigration job she was somehow highly regarded in Treasury and DPM & C. That does not add up at all, given the very demanding nature of work in those two Departments. I think she was too difficult to touch and was no held to particularly high standards in both those Departments. Shame on them. She should never have been put in the immigration role. That is like have a fox look after the hen house.
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:43 pm
John Davy of Maori TV infamy got eight months in the can for embelishing his quals, yet was in the job for less than seven weeks. This haggis sack has worked for in the public sector for how many years, with only $10k fine and community service?
Dat ain’t right.
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:49 pm
How come people who commit fraud in this country avoid jail, that’s the 2nd in two weeks, don’t they know fraud is theft?
Plus she was a big knob, so she should get caned harder and longer like the police and judiciary when they commit crimes.
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Yeh but she one of them,famenine socialists things. After all Hulun got nothing but a promotion.
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Who recommended her appointment, at that level it would have been ( I’ don’t know )a ministerial appointment???????? after recommendation from who?????? or whom????
Was it that easily embarrassed Mark ” Sorry I looked at your tits, Christine” Prebble?
I work for a firm that checks the credentials of truck drivers and freight sorters, and these lazy sods couldn’t even make a couple of phone calls??????
This was a huge fraud, gaining a pecuniary advantage ( her salary) by a false pretence ) Joe Brown Boy would be off to the pokey bvefore you could say, ” I am a lying lesbian and very good friends with the Clark government”
February 3rd, 2010 at 6:00 pm
You really have to wonder at some of the wankers these crappy government dept’s hire as their HR people. How can they be that incompetent and still command the huge salaries they do and keep their jobs.
Bit like jobs for the boys the same shit of course permeates right down through the ranks to really sad jobs-for-old boys outfits like the councils.
Once upon a time when I was a little chap HR managers were called “Personnel Officers” and most were old retired army ossifers. I tend to think they were much better at their jobs than the glorified wankers we have hiring staff now.
February 3rd, 2010 at 6:17 pm
I think she claimed that she had a PhD in an era when checking up on these things took a bit more effort than just making a few phone calls or checking the internet.
Once the fiction was established, it would have been easy to perpetuate the myth.
I am somewhat pleased however. My PhD was a major investment in time and effort- hence do not want people with bogus qualifications undermining this achievement.
February 3rd, 2010 at 6:51 pm
She always struck me as more than capable when I worked in Parliament. This whole episode is all a bit sad really.
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:04 pm
“she was highly regarded in her former roles at Treasury and DPMC.”
Really? Highly regarded by cronies, flunkies, non-performers, and Labour Party sycophants, no doubt.
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Eisenhower, thank you for your comment and in some way support. To this day I am still plague by this event in my life. Perhaps now it is my turn to seek proper justice.
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:48 pm
I have a few mates who wouldn’t mind getting into NZ on the cheap, does anyone still have her mobile number?
Or do you have to be a poor, unschooled Islander?
February 3rd, 2010 at 8:30 pm
You’re right, it is strange. DPMC is a very demanding master. She would have had to have shined there. Really a shame.
February 3rd, 2010 at 8:43 pm
I know a few people who work in the immigration department, one or two at very high levels.
While I cannot speak to how she was regarded at Treasury and DPMC, I can promise you that in the Immigration Department she was generally held in contempt!
February 3rd, 2010 at 8:57 pm
It was when she became Prime Minister Jenny Shipley’s number one policy advisor in 1998 – even moving from DPMC to the PMO – that it became obvious the world had gone mad and National was doomed in 1999. Shipley thought the world of her.
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:26 pm
John Davy – As far as I remember, his CV was so badly misleading that he landed a job he would never have got had he furnished a true CV and hence seriously defrauded Maori TV. With Mary, not having the claimed degree did not render her completely ‘incompetent’ for the job, its main effect would be to give her a higher ranking among the candidates. Hence her fraud was not as serious as Davy’s.
She was allegedly incompetent (or worse) in the Immigration job. This begs the question of why the interviewers considered she was suitable for the job. It seems in retrospect the interviewers should have given her application the heave-ho, PhD or not.
I understand that formal qualifications are well down the list when employers are considering hiring or promotions. Exceptions are professional jobs obviously requiring a qualification (eg doctor) or heavily unionised workforces eg teachers (where pay increments are determined by formal qualifications and years of experience, never mind whether the person can actually teach.
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:33 pm
You’re right, it is strange. DPMC is a very demanding master. She would have had to have shined there. Really a shame.
1. Its not a shame, shes a crook, a common run of the mill thief.
2. I worked for the government for 30 plus years– it doesnt take much to shine, turning up daily will do.
3. Its still not a shame, jesus ,– how many people suffered career wise because of this creature with feet of clay?
4. Whats really a shame is she will not be sent to prison which is what she deserves- I believe she denied any wrong doing when this was first made public!!!!
5 I can’t believe anyone has the slightest sympathy for this thing, this is really serious shit what she has done.
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:45 pm
peterwn-Hence her fraud was not as serious as Davy’s…
Just like…… I’m only a little bit pregnant….
Grow up, she is a crook, the same as the 15 year burglar from Otara.- she was gutless, she denied any wrong doing when she was found out
Why would you be making an excuse for her?
Or are you still looking for someone else to blame, perhaps it wasn’t her fault- colonization perhaps, unloved as child, or the interviewers ,its always someone elses fault…..
Qualifications figure hugely when applying for positions, especially within the civil service, the more you have the better the chance of at least getting to the interview stage.
Shes just another crook.
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Ms Thompson is a common thief and deserves prison.
Basically the salary she received while holding a position she most likely would not have held had she not cooked her CV, could be considered stolen money.
She should pay it back. Her punishment should take into account the detrimental effect she had no doubt on other’s career advancement opportunities. Also of course the damage to the institution from which she claimed she received a doctorate.
She should be slung into prison – absolutely no better than a common house-breaker, actually a lot worse – something ultra despicable about a person claiming qualifications unearned.
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Last year I started calling gummint departments and asking why they felt it necessary to hold so many meetings in pubs. Often for several days. Especially in Wellington. Needless to say, I was given a pile of bullshit in reply. So, just to be more annoying I also asked why gummint departments employed women whose ONLY job was to put other women in positions of authority. The only response was that it was okay because…….. they did the same thing for Maoris and gays.
February 3rd, 2010 at 11:03 pm
Put the Hag in the slammer and close the door !
February 4th, 2010 at 12:04 am
So, fake a PhD, lie on your CV, become head of Immigration and illegally get your family into the country and get a $10,000 fine.
Or write a blog about immigrating to New Zealand and face $100,000 in fines or seven years in jail.
I’m with Bubbsie – throw the woman in jail, and her family out of New Zealand. They can wait to get in legally like the rest of us poor buggers who don’t have an aunty willing to break the law for us.
February 4th, 2010 at 12:10 am
It’s because to work in the public service if you have a Masters or PhD, (even if you have no prior working experience anywhere else) you are eligible for jobs you otherwise wouldn’t be and seen as an authority. It’s an extension of academia gone mad.
February 4th, 2010 at 6:39 am
So true, have a relative who works at the top of one dept. Very good at what they do and never been to Uni. Her top boss appointed by the Hulun Dept. has all the bells and whistles but has no idea and no common sense. Asks her junior what they should do.
The first question any new recruit asks when meeting this person is almost all ways “what degree have you got and which uni.”
When told none its like sacrilege. They then have to teach these trained people their jobs. If it wasn’t so sick it might be funny.
February 4th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Ten grand and 100 hours “community work” is a fucking farce and shows just what a huge joke the legal system in this banana republic is.
Like others have said this lying, sycophantic piece of shit should be jailed. A deliberate fraud to gain both pecuniary advantage, social status and troughing rights.
The immigration department was a total and complete shambles on every occasion I have ever had to deal with them and the fact she abused her position to bring her “family” in to the country just adds further insult to all those who have been through the bureaucracy.
February 4th, 2010 at 8:17 am
Clark lied on her CV, the phony painting, yet was not even charged. Her forgery was for personal gain – votes. If the election had of been very close pretending to have a talent she did not have could have got her elected.
February 4th, 2010 at 8:21 am
I concur, what’s the betting they don’t get the heave ho.
February 4th, 2010 at 9:04 am
Pauleastbay – there is no need for an abusive comment like ‘grow up’. There are no ‘degrees’ of pregnancy, but there are degrees of fraud generally measured by the amount of money involved. You get a much heavier sentence for a $18M fraud than for swapping price stickers in a shop. I was making the point that the consequences of Thompson’s fraud was not as serious as Davy’s one, therefore it is reasonable for Thompson’s fraud to carry a lesser penalty. IMO the principal cause of her failure in the immigration job was not a ‘cooked’ CV but the failure of the interviewing panel to make a robust inquiry and recommendation. A bit of probing surely would have shown that there was little substance behind a posh facade, especially as her prevous employment was local. In retrospect she should not have got the job even if her degree was ‘dinkum’.
February 4th, 2010 at 9:56 am
The plea bargain shuts down any revealing of corruption in the Immigration Service under this crook.
What is it with National and immigration?
February 4th, 2010 at 10:41 am
By pleading guilty no real evidence can be presented so no red faces around.
Can’t remember who endorsed her application to Immigration. I believe her initials were H.E.C.
Who in SSC would not “approve” the appointment with that endorsement.
February 4th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Former Labour party MP John Tamihere has said that Helen Klark was well aware of Thompson’s lack of qualifications.
It seems that once again the establishment has closed ranks to avoid embarrassing the former PM, I wonder how long it will take before somebody is brave enough to tell the whole story about the most corrupt PM this nation has ever had.
February 4th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Believe everything Tamahere says Big bruv? Old JT is a talkback host who says all sorts of rubbish to drum up callers, much like the former minister for irregular polling
February 4th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
It is pulling a long bow to suggest her guilty plea was induced by the ‘establishment’.
The only two ways it could have happened would be:
1. Offer of some ‘carrot’ like an appointment to another job.
2. Pressure on the prosecutor to go easy on sentencing submissions.
Both of these would be corrupt actions.
Most likely it was purely a matter between her, her lawyer and the judge. The judge has given a sentencing indication assuming a guilty plea no doubt at the request of her lawyer. This would include a lesser sentence for a guilty plea (Sentencing Act requirement). This is normal procedure. If the judge signalled a jail term, she may have said no thanks, I will plead ‘not guilty’ ifi she and her lawyer thought there was some weakness in the Crown case (unlikely although her lawyer would have explored this possibility). If she pleaded not guilty and was convicted she would have risked being trundled off to Arohata.
February 4th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
peterwn, you overlook including the Prosecution in the plea bargain – without them it not have happened.
The likely routine in this case is that Thompson’s lawyer approached the Prosecution and asked to cut a deal.
Only then, if the two lawyers agreed, would the pair of them approach the Judge for a sentencing guideline based on a reducing the charges to one in return for a guilty plea.
The Crown had already spent tens of thousands of dollars on this case – police investigation, Auditor-General’s investigation, SSC investigation, depositions hearing last year with video evidence of the UK, etc, etc.
At the depositions hearing her lawyer conceded there was a case to answer.
There will be only one reason the Prosecution cut a deal. To save the expense of a trial.
February 4th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
On Lush’s morning show this morning a journo gave a run-down. He’d obviously done his research.
He said that when Thompson applied to become the Head of DPMC, the recruiting agency involved turned this up and told the SSC. Guess what the then SSC-Commissioner (guess who), did with this info. He simply asked her if she had a Ph.D from the LSE. She said yes. He then dropped that line of enquiry. Gah.
She later pulled out of the running for that DPMC post, citing family reasons. When the job at immigration came up, she applied and got it. The only reason as you know she was ever caught out, was because she tried to manipulate the system on behalf of her cuzy-bros…
Now, I seem to recall that Dr Mark Prebble was a less than neutral civil-servant during Hulun’s regime, and there is no doubt that Hulun would have had a quiet message on the side that Mary-Ann wasn’t all she appeared. So both those people IMO, both knew and approved of Thompson’s immigration appt, knowing that she wasn’t an honest person.
I doubt most journos would want to pursue and expose those angles but if they did, it would be a block-buster. At the very least, it’s worth a question in whatever select committee monitors the SSC.
February 4th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
reid @ 6:38pm – yes I heard that interview this morning on the Marcus Lush show, but the guy wasn’t a journalist.
He was from a company called Personal Verification Ltd that specialises in verifying job applicants CV’s.
I liked the way he summarised the whole case and identified who was responsible for Thompson getting away with her fraud for so long – quite refreshing to hear someone being so willing to identify who was to blame, instead of the weazle-words we have become so used to hearing in the media.
He was also on the 6 o’clock TV One news this evening too. I just had look at their website (www.verify.co.nz) and the company has a news page devoted to CV fraud and employee theft cases in New Zealand that makes chilling reading.
February 4th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
A fraud running the Immigration ‘Service’.
That explains quite a lot about the state we are in. Leaky doesn’t come close to describing the condition of our immigration system. If it wasn’t true, it would be comical.
No wonder our friends up north now feel able to sell citizenship.
The Public Service has been hijacked by shameless, self-promoting frauds, wide-boys (and girls, thanks Helen) and shysters of all sorts.
February 4th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Oh, I forget the most important point…
I’m so pleased she pleaded guilty. I was beginning to think I was the only person in the country without a PhD.
February 4th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
Let’s all lobby for a review of the higher qualifications claimed by all government employees.
First check that the qualification is real. If it is, run the thesis through a plagiarism detection system.
Who knows, we may be able to cut the public sector by 5% or more – and reduce corruption at the same time.