Fale Andrew Lesā
In late 2021 the Herald ran an article quoting Fale Andrew Lesā about MIQ space. He was described as a diplomat.
I had someone e-mail me pointing out that he was not a diplomat. So I ran this blog post on how he isn’t a diplomat. Andrew responded to me by e-mail and said he was invited as an individual in relation to his experience in public policy and governance, and he made this clear to the Herald.
I added a statement from him to the story, despite being unsure this was the case. The Herald journalist had said in an e-mail to my reader “Andrew has the most extraordinary CV which such a variety of roles that I wasn’t sure how to describe him. So I asked him and he said he always described himself as a diplomat. I must admit I thought it a little odd.”
In April 2023, Andrew asked me to remove the blog post as it was coming up prominently in Google, and he argued he was a diplomat on the basis of his work for the Asian Development Bank, and that he had never mentioned MFAT. I agreed to do so, because I don’t believe in never ending consequences for what might be a one off mistake, so it was set to be hidden until today.
This morning Stuff has a story which reveals he has been appointed a Visiting Justice for Prisons. They also find his CV somewhat embellished or as he cals it aspirational:
- Said he had a JD from Yale, but in fact he did a free online course on governance that is on the Internet
- Said he is a director of ACC, but he is merely a member of their Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council
- Said he was a policy consultant for the Asian Development Bank on the basis an e-mail asking for input into a policy dialogue session for the ADB’s Asia Pacific Youth Symposium which he had previously attended
- Said he was a UN Diplomat on the basis he took part in some UNESCO youth forums (Incidentally I was once a member of the UN Secretary General’s Working Group on Youth Unemployment, so I guess that would have made me a very senior diplomat!)
- Said he was a senior advisor to Philanthropy NZ, but was just a member of their youth advisory group
Andrew is so good at embellishing his CV, he should apply to be a Green Party MP!
UPDATE: He says he resigning from all his roles.