The real agenda behind the rush to sell our assets:

Today it was announced that Pike River Coal does not have the cash to pay compensation to the Families of the men who died in the mine they operated in a dangerously unsafe manner for years, because company bosses have already spent the money on their legal fees, according to one of the receivers.

And that's not the only thing they, and the directors of the company who took over the mine, Solid Energy, have been spending it on either.  The Families want their men back not just some cheap payoff, what an absolute insult.

The Families and the men in the mine have been brushed aside with contempt by the vultures who've been picking over the carcass of Pike River Coal.  The role of the Department of Labour has never been scrutinised - the Minister resigned her portfolio because of the liability of herself and the Department and the Ministry so it seems that the Families should instruct the police to lay charges of of criminal negligence and instruct a lawyer forthwith to lay civil charges against the DoL, NZOG and others.

"Let's let Solid Energy buy the mine, they'll get the men out" said certain people - self appointed community advocates, etc, well let's look at how that's worked out.  CEO Don Elder, married to "political commentator" Therese Arseneau ( - nice work if you can get it - who pays her how much to be a "political commentator"?) when you look at what Don Elder's been raking in (see links above, para 2).  They've also been spending like there's no tomorrow on luxuries and holidays etc.

In April 2013 Clayton Cosgrove went to the Ombudsmen regarding the refusal of Solid Energy to respond to OIA requests - because staff responsible for responding to it were on holiday - Cosgrove said Solid Energy was making a laughing stock of the Ministry and that he was acting as a last resort because requests for information were being blocked at every turn.

Solid Energy has debts of four hundred million dollars and is facing financial ruin unless it can negotiate a rescue package with Treasury and the banks (source at link in paragraph above).  Meanwhile Conman Key has been blatantly manipulating the stock market.and helping his mates thieve from Kiwi 'mum and dad investors' by claiming the money was going to go to schools and hospitals, when all the while the plan was to line his pockets and his mates' pockets!

Conman Key has been caught out lying again, after earlier denying that plans have already been made for the as yet unannounced bail out of Solid Energy and reports are now emerging about the outrageous culture of extravagance perpetrated by these pigs - feasting at the trough while twenty nine families grieve, and their men lay somewhere inside the death trap that murdered them by putting money before safe practice, and they are forbidden to even get near the mine to pay their respects.  Instead, each Family has a stone, a big boulder.  Ironic? - or symbolic of the heart of Conman Key and his greedy, deceitful mates?

Money Conman Key promised would go on schools and hospital has been stolen by his thieving white collar mates.

Lee Scanlon's revealed that Solid Energy are paying over $25,000 a week to lease their offices - known as The Palace - while Pike Families and other honest hardworking New Zealanders are struggling to find work and jobs so they can feed their families.

Greymouth District Court judge Jane Farish ordered PRC to pay $110,000 in reparation to each of the grieving families and two survivors of the West Coast mine explosion - a total of $3.41m.

She also fined the company a total of $760,000 over nine charges.

Receiver John Fisk said it was impossible for PRC to comply with that order.  Judge Jane Farrish refused to fall for that nonsense and expressed the view of the Court perfectly clearly in that respect.

Only $156,000 - or about $5380 per family - of its $2 million liability insurance cover was still available for compensation payments, said Fisk.

The other $1.84 million had been used by company staff and directors for their legal fees, Mr Fisk said.

"There's a cold hard sort of commercial and legal reality as to what we're dealing with here as receivers and then the tragic situation of the death of 29 men in a workplace accident.

That does come into stark contrast in these situations."

Mr Fisk said he did not know what Judge Farish meant when she said there was the "means" for reparation payments to be made.  - What arrant nonsense!  Of course he does!

"I'm not sure what she means by that because it can't come from the company so I'm at a loss to know where she thought that could be paid from.

"Unfortunately they won't be able to get anything out of the company."  - No - because the pigs and vultures are still feeding!

Pike River Coal was valued at $400 million before the mine explosion on November 19, 2010.

It has about $500,000 in cash and assets remaining, but it is legally bound to pay that money to its largest secured creditor New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZOG).

Families spokesman Bernie Monk said today it was "morally wrong'' that secured creditors were paid first.

Although the families had received financial support, that help had been divided among 55 different families.

"The impact statements show they (Pike) didn't care two hoots about staff."

Mr Monk said he had written to Pike's former Indian directors, but they had "not had the guts to write back".

He said the directors were not fit to run the company.

"It's laughable to hear NZ Oil and Gas made so many millions last year. It's not the end of it."

Judge Farish indicated NZOG was in a position to pay reparation. She also mentioned former directors' private insurance policies.

Last August, NZ Oil and Gas posted a full-year profit of $19.9m.

"Good on the judge," Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union assistant national secretary Ged O'Connell said immediately after sentencing.

"Pike River Coal's directors should not be able to hide behind shabby legal structures and carry on as if nothing ever happened. It's time we had corporate manslaughter laws and personal liability for directors so they can be held accountable for their actions.''

Receivers were appointed in mid-December 2010 - just two weeks after the mine exploded, claiming 29 lives.

Pike River Coal had invested $290m in the mine operation. The Bank of New Zealand was a first ranking secured creditor, owed about $23.2m. In 2011, the receivers said they would give full payouts to the 243 unsecured creditors owed up to $10,000 each.

Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn said self-regulation of health and safety lit the fuse of the disaster, fuelled by the company's "greed and complacency".

West Coast-based Green Party MP Kevin Hague said it was "a travesty of justice" that the families could end up with as little as $5000 each.

He said Pike River's $2m liability insurance cover was "totally inadequate" for a high-risk operation and the families had been left with "crumbs" after everyone else had been paid.

The crippled mine was last year sold to Solid Energy for $7.5m.

Mr Fisk said today it received $80m in an insurance claim, which was partly used to pay unsecured creditors. The rest was used to repay secured debenture holders in order of priority.

There was money in the bank account when the receivers were called in, mainly advances from NZOG. Some was used to stabilise the mine, and the tunnel reclamation plan.

The $7.5m from Solid Energy was also used to pay secured creditors.

When the board put itself into receivership, it said in a statement: "The only prudent action we could take was to approach our major creditors and advise them we were unlikely to be able to repay our loans at the end of the standstill period that NZOG and BNZ offered us after the 19th of November.''

Former Pike River chairman John Dow was not answering the phone at his Nelson home this morning, or his cellphone.  (- Source: Hayden Donnell, NZ Herald, Laura Mills, Greymouth Star, 5 July 2013)

It's been revealed that Conman Key and his government TOLD Solid Energy to borrow - after lying about that too and arrogantly denying it - manipulating the stock market - right before the controversial float of Mighty River.

More and more lies are emerging daily, indicating the real asset sales agenda and

There is more on these matters at this link and this one, and this site will certainly be updated with reports on them and Transparency NZ will be working hard to (a) recover the bodies of the twenty nine men - or at least make an honest attempt to do the decent thing - and provide some REAL justice for the Families of these men!; (b) hold the proper people accountable instead of the ritual sacrifice of a couple of unwitting scapegoats; and (c) ensure this never happens again.(and that can't happen until (b) happens anyway).

Meanwhile, all this time, years later, the Families can't even get near the mine where their men are, because of this stinking, and corrupt cover up.  Neville Rockhouse is one of the scapegoats.

Conman Key has lied, and lied, and lied, and what was revealed at the commission of inquiry about the role of the Department of Labour - or lack of a role - and what happens when you let industry and commercial interests regulate themselves should have been a lesson, but recent events prove otherwise.

The Trust set up for the families of the Pike River miners' Families, is at this link.

(Source: Hayden Donnell, NZ Herald, Laura Mills, Greymouth Star, 5 July 2013)

Transparency NZ will continue to protest at parliament and the Court until justice is done, and good on Judge Jane Farrish for dishing out a bit of justice, and having the integrity to tell the guilty parties that she will not tolerate their deception.

The day is soon approaching when we file action in the Courts for some REAL justice for the Families of the men in the Pike River mine - and all other decent hard working New Zealand taxpayers for that matter - it's coming very soon, and it's long overdue - we don't pay taxes to be governed like this!

Masterton, Manakau, near enough, for the incompetent and corrupt - and ironically named - NZ Ministry of Justice . . .

I recently sent the Manager for Courts another email:

"6/9/2013 

Tena koe Mr Frengley,

I'm writing regarding the matter of the news report at this link, regarding the conviction of a Police prosecutor for assaulting his former partner and her son.

Would you please send me a copy of the Judge's decision regarding this matter (by return email).

Also, I filed three appeals in the Masterton Court recently, can you tell me whether any dates have been set down to have them heard please, or provide me with an email address for the person dealing with those matters, it would be good if they were set down for different days.

Thank you for your attention to these matters.

Yours faithfully

Katherine Raue"

 
Today, I received this response:

"Dear Katherine,

I have been asked by Mr Alistair Frengley to respond to your query dated 9 June 2013 regarding the news report about the conviction of a Police prosecutor, please  expect the High Court to respond to you on this matter.
With reference to your three appeals these matters are being dealt with in the Manakau District Court in July, to obtain information on these matters please make your request to the Manakau District Court.

The court will refer your request to the Judge who will in turn oblige or deny your request.

Unfortunately, I am unable to provide you with any further information on these matters.  I trust you will be able to pursue the gathering of information on these matters as set out above.

It is my pleasure to assist you.

Warmest regards

Lauri Blyth-Carter 

Court Services Manager"

GCSB Bill public submissions - Key, Banks and Ryall reveal their true colours:

This is a fascinating insight into our political leaders, and the way they interact with their constituents - Key and his ministers display a contempt and arrogance which is unmistakable, as ever more evidence of the government spying on ordinary New Zealanders is revealed.

The government is currently hearing' oral submissions in support of the written submissions received regarding the proposed amendments to legalise the illegal actions of the government. after they were caught out breaking the law spectacularly.

Auckland activist Penny Bright travelled from Auckland to speak in support of her written submission regarding the Government Communications Security Bureau Amendment Bill, this short video clip shows that Key and Banks had no intention of listening to Ms Bright, and can barely disguise his arrogance, mockery and contempt at being forced to listen to the people he serves - a fascinating insight into how the government of the people REALLY works. 

Note at the beginning how Key attempts to close the meeting with undue haste in order to prevent Ms Bright from being heard, after she popped out for a no doubt much needed breath of fresh air, luckily she beat Key to the door, after fellow political commentator Maria Van Der Meel saved the day.  Our politicians reveal their true colours:




Other submissions have been made by TechLiberty, The NZ Law Society, and many others.

Illegal and unwarranted spying on citizens for political purposes is now widespread, and this matter is of great concern to a growing number of New Zealanders.

Instead of being held accountable for the widespread illegal spying on the citizens who elect our representatives, Key's National government is now trying to change the law, and make their illegal actions legal - this is NOT democracy, and as the video above clearly demonstrates, Key had no intention of listening to submitters, and apparently lacks basic good manners and other vital qualities of a Prime Minister.  The video speaks for itself, and is a testament to the value of diligent independent journalists, such as the one who filmed this clip yesterday afternoon. 

Kim Dotcom is due to appearing today.  The link to Mr Dotcom's full address is at this link.

This particular link here shows how Russel Norman and David Shearer asked for extra time to question Mr Dotcom - given that he was the whole reason we were there, however Key demonstrated his usual arrogance and contempt for the democratic process, Mr Dotcom says he was sent an email saying he and Mr Van Der Kolk would be given twenty five minutes instead of the fifteen minutes John Dot Con suddenly decided to impose (that's me in the background in the green jacket filming).  Journalist Gordon Campbell summarises at this link.  Thomas Beagle also rated a mention on The Civilian.
Among the submitters heard on Friday were representatives from OASIS.

Point of Order Protest at Supreme Court and Parliament calls for Transparency in New Zealand Courts and public affairs:

The inaugural Point of Order Protest was held on 13 June 2013, beginning outside the Supreme Court in Wellington and progressing to Parliament. 

Protestors led by publisher Vince Siemer of Kiwisfirst  united in Wellington today in solidarity with Transparency NZ, NZ Justice Forum, the NZ Private Prosecution Service, and a number of other individuals and representatives of various organisations concerned with human rights abuses, injustice in the Courts, etc, and demanded accountability, fair access to justice, transparent Courts, transparency regarding public affairs, and governance by the people and for the people, with fair elections and access to fair justice for all - rather than only the well off.  The Courthouse itself cost over $80,000,000 of taxpayer's money to build, it replaces New Zealanders' access to the Privy Council, which cost us nothing.

While Transparency International's NZ chapter is well 'incentivised' to come up with their "reports" which spread the propaganda that there is no corruption in New Zealand - or indeed the wider Pacific - the evidence tells another story - the National Business Review reports there is an alarming amount of bribery in New Zealand.  Vince Siemer and Kate Raue are only two of the many people who have been corruptly bullied by taxpayer funded Courts, Judges, lawyers, amicus curiae, Court appointed 'forensic staff', psychologists and psychiatricts and other purveyors of quackery who quaff at the great trough that is our ironically named 'justice' system, a system which is totally dysfunctional and prejudiced and biased in favour of the wealthy, including recent widely criticised changes to the legislation resulting in extremely restrictive access to legal aid.  Others protesting included Maria Van Der Meel of The City is Ours - protesting in particular to the manner in which the Council are dealing with issues regarding the bus lanes in Wellington and in particular Manners Mall - several people have been killed or seriously injured now, including Venessa Green, who was struck and killed by a bus in Willis St recently, as well as representatives of the Wellington Private Prosecution Service, and several independent journalists.

The processes for complaints through the established agencies are widely recognised as being inefficient because of incompetent and corrupt 'investigators', often ex Police officers, who've 'perfed' out of the force rather than face disciplinary action, such as Jon Moss and his mates at the REAA.  The Ombudsmen's Office, the IPCA, the Privacy Commissioner and Health and Disability Commissioner are all dysfunctional, incompetent, and often corrupt, which has led to a situation where there is a massive backlog of complaints and the only option for the victims is the Courts, which is what led to the overload of the legal aid applications and the changes to curtail access to legal aid.

Thanks to Simon Powers' widely criticised changes to the legal aid system, people no longer have access to lawyers unless they've got lots of money, these changes were slammed in a recent decision from the Court of Appeal, Criminal Bar Association v Attorney General.  The irony is, that the Criminal Bar Association represents the lawyers whose money tree was being pruned, rather than the public interest, and lawyers are still refusing to take clients unless the clients have the means to pay huge legal bills.  The same thing is happening in Europe where lawyers are protesting similar changes.  The decision of the Criminal Bar Association v Attorney General contains the words 

"But the issue is not what is desirable as a matter of sound public administration, but what is lawful."

Vince Siemer was party to this little exchange in the Auckland High Court on 17 June 2008:

Judge Lester Chisholm:  "Mr Siemer, if we find that you have broken the law will you change your ways?  

Mr Siemer:  "What law have I broken?" 

Judge Chisholm:   "That is for us to decide." 

Mr Siemer:  "What law is it said that I've broken?" 

Judge Chisholm:   "Mr Siemer, I'm not going to get into a debate with you." 

Mr Siemer:   "Of course not."

Here's another:

"Mr Siemer:  Is this proceeding being recorded as I requested?
Judge Rhys Harrison:  Why do you want it recorded?
Mr Siemer:  Is this not a 'Court of record'?
Judge Harrison:  'Court of record' was a phrase coined many, many centuries ago, before recording devices came into existence, so it has nothing to do with 'accurate record of proceedings'.  So, no, there is no need to record, thank you."

The Point of Order Protest serendipitously ambushed Judge Rhys Harrison on Molesworth St as he was scurrying off to do his dastardly business, and followed him up the street addressing him with the loud hailer for a few moments, which was particularly appropriate.

Recent decisions to ignore the decision of Criminal Bar Association and ignore Peter Dunne's lack of a mandate make a mockery of our 'democracy'.

Access to the Courts is further obstructed by a general unwillingness to release information according to the Official Information Act, Privacy Act, Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act and a propensity instead to try and withhold and conceal as much information as possible and deliberately and unlawfully obstruct and hinder the provision of information routinely, thus clogging up the Office of the Ombudsmen with a landslide of complaints and resulting in a totally unacceptable delay of over a year for even looking at complaints let alone 'investigating' them - and complaints are all too often referred to the very people complained about to investigate anyway, such as the IPCA who routinely refer complaints back to the very police (or their colleagues) instead of any truly independent or robust investigation with any integrity we are routinely fobbed of with what often amounts to an orchestrated litany of lies.

In one case a woman had to ask a Judge for a Court Order just to obtain Disclosure from the local Police - in order to find out what it was she was actually charged with, over a year after the charge was laid - whereupon the Police had to admit that the charge never should have been laid in the first place - as the prosecutor knew all along!

Police are lying in order to unlawfully take DNA from innocent people which is extremely worrying given the evidence of the campaign of corrupt bullying and malicious and vexatious litigation which sadistic local officers indulge it - enough!  We pay taxes for fair and honest governance - not this travesty of justice we are currently enduring.

There's been a disgraceful whitewash regarding the Pike River mine explosions which killed twenty nine men, a whitewash of the GCSB spying, a whitewash of the Urewera fiasco, an unprecedented landslide of legislation curtailing human rights and access to justice and the Point of Order Protests will continue to act to change this taxpayer funded incompetence and blatant corruption.

Transparency NZ spokesperson Katherine Raue launched a stinging address at Parliament regarding the fact that twenty nine men still lie dead somewhere inside the Pike Rive mine while we've witnessed the systemic corporate failure or not only Pike River Coal but Solid Energy - Don Elder retained on the big salary and a "commission of inquiry" that didn't even have the power to compel witnesses to appear and conveniently minimised the role and liability of the Department of Labour and the government in the deaths of the twenty nine men, and a Court process that has ignored and intimidated and let down the families of those men on top of everything else they've had to endure - from the unspeakable shock of first finding out that there'd been an explosion while their men were in the mine, throughout the fiasco of a response, the second explosion, the hounding of journalists who didn't check their facts anyway, throughout all the days and weeks and months and years - over two and a half years - of birthdays and wedding anniversaries, children growing up without their dads and wives who, like many other New Zealanders, just won't put up with the fact that this government enabled the Department of Labour with resources (taxpayers money) and our paid public servants - and systems of governance - have failed so totally and utterly as was exposed at the inquiry (transcripts of the evidence are available to read, scroll down at this link) - although what was exposed was only the tip of the iceberg anyway.  Kate also gave parliament (and half of Thorndon) a piece of her mind regarding the incompetence and corruption of the NZ Police, particularly those in the Wairarapa and Wellington regions, and the complete dysfunction and obvious corruption of the IPCA and the fact that the so called 'investigation' into the fact that Sgt Mark McHattie threw hundreds of child abuse files in the rubbish bin and deliberately lied about it - saying "hand on my heart they've been resolved" when he knew perfectly well he'd thrown them in the bin.  The so called investigation has been going on for nearly seven years and nothing's changed - the 'inquiry' has just been a big gravy train for all involved, rewarding the perpetrators - conducted by the perpetrators and their mates and funded by the gullible taxpayers who believe everything the media tells them while the NBR report that there is an alarming amount of bribery in New Zealand at the same time the Ministry of Foreign Affairs funds Transparency International NZ to tell us there's no corruption in New Zealand or the Pacific region.  Yeah, right.

The investigation's been going on since at least 2007, and nobody involved in investigating the matter has even bothered to interview McHattie, and he and the other ringleader, Area Commander John Johnston have both been actually PROMOTED instead of charged with perverting the course of justice and imprisoned - while we've got over twice the national rate of suicide REGULARLY - it's not rocket science to see the link there, when the message we're giving people is "Talk to someone" and then the "someone" they talk to throws their files in the bin and gives his sicko mates their names and addresses etc, while they sit on their backsides sending each other emails about websites they shouldn't be worrying about anyway - the Courts have repeatedly found the publisher of the website innocent of their corrupt accusations and the NZ Police should be getting on with investigating child abuse and other violent crime instead of sending each other emails saying "Something needs to be looked at regarding Kate Raue's blog and the statements she's making on it about our staff."   Something needs looking at regarding why New Zealanders are being spied on in record numbers and unlawfully, and being stripped of our rights, while our taxes are used to fund a private army that rallies en masse to crack down on protests and pickets while they throw child abuse files in the rubbish bin.

The first Point of Order Protest outside the Supreme Court, with Kiwisfirst editor Vince Siemer, and protestors from  Transparency NZ , the NZ Private Prosecution Service, Wellington City is Ours and a number of other campaigners for justice and transparent governance.

Police out in force at a protest outside McDonalds in  March 2013

Police acting in force to protect corporate interests in return for cheap burgers, in contempt of regulations.

(Police bosses, including the Minister, initially lied, claiming that Police didn't receive any incentive or discount from McDonalds, until it was revealed that they in fact did receive a discount at McDonalds, in total contradiction of police regulations.)  Our police force has becoming a private army for corporate and political interests, and our Courts are acting increasingly in a manner which is not in the public interest and not in the interests of justice.

And now the government is forcing through even MORE legislation making it illegal to strike.

Australian GST law enables government officials to time travel:

The Australian Goods and Services Tax Act 1999 is a hefty piece of legislation to try and make your way through, but it's well worth it when you arrive at section 165.55, which states the following example of creative use of the Queen's English:

[The] "Commissioner may disregard scheme in making declarations. 

         For the purposes of making a declaration under this Subdivision, the Commissioner may: 

                     (a)  treat a particular event that actually happened as not having happened; and 

                     (b)  treat a particular event that did not actually happen as having happened and, if appropriate, treat the event as: 

                              (i)  having happened at a particular time; and
                             (ii)  having involved particular action by a particular entity; and 

                     (c)  treat a particular event that actually happened as: 

                              (i)  having happened at a time different from the time it actually happened; or
                             (ii)  having involved particular action by a particular entity (whether or not the event actually involved any action by that entity)."

This is not unlike the recent decision of the NZ Court of Appeal in the matter of Criminal Bar Association v Attorney General in which the Honourable Judge uttered this:

"But the issue is not what is desirable as a matter of sound public administration, but what is lawful." 

Transparency International raking it in to spread propaganda at the taxpayer's expense:

Transparency International New Zealand posted a 'news' story on Voxy yesterday stating its "emergent overall findings" into its "National Integrity Systems review" "found that high standards of independence, integrity and accountability were generally met, although areas for improvements were noted. New Zealand also scores highly for fiscal transparency."  (The fact that they had to resort to Voxy to get this propaganda out speaks volumes in itself.)

 The story states a further report will be provided in July, with the full report concluding August 27th. The public are invited to provide feedback through the local autonomous chapter's website, but the site has been down since the story appeared. The New Zealand government has less of a problem getting TINZ's ear than the public.

The TINZ review's $400,000 budget is being funded by Crown agencies, including the Auditor General. TINZ Review Director Suzanne Snively (pictured) reports biweekly to Solicitor General Michael Heron or Attorney General Chris Finlayson and advises she will be paid $50,000 for her efforts. The story maintains the work is "welcomed by Minister of State Services Jonathan Coleman and Labour spokesperson for State Services Phil Goff". Ms Snively, an American whose most notable achievement could be making a personal fortune off NZ government contracts, currently as Principal of More Media Ltd, advised kiwisfirst (the source of this article, and many others of interest to the public of NZ) last month that she considers New Zealand to be virtually corruption free.

When confronted with survey results which revealed New Zealanders are twice as likely to pay bribes as Australians, she suggested the result was skewed by Australians' ignorance of how corrupt things are across the ditch.

She says she prefers to think positively and claimed much of the dispute with TINZ's findings comes from people focused on the negative - including Kiwisfirst publisher Vince Siemer. Director Snively freely admitted her private company exists on government contracts, but stated this and the Crown's funding of TINZ's review posed no conflict because the review was "objective" and controlled by "22 researchers" independent of the funders. Asked if researchers were paid, Snively responded "some are and some are not". Asked what the methodology was that made the review objective, Ms Snively could only state the review was inclusive of the entire country.

 Transparency International New Zealand has been under a cloud of suspicion for years. Three years ago, Ministry of Transport bureaucrat Claire Johnstone was running the show along with her husband, active police detective Ash Johnstone. On Sinclair Robertson Associates' website - the private consultancy the Johnstones also ran - Mr Johnstone was listed as doing background checks for their private industry clients and the homepage proudly pronounced "We deliver strategic development services for a variety of clients, ranging from iwi groups to central and local government, not-for-profit organizations and small to medium sized enterprise. We have particular expertise in analyzing and presenting an organisation's business case. This has allowed us to raise equity or access grant funding from government for many of our clients."  

According to Snively, the chapter had 52 members at the end of last year and 12 directors. Most members are either public sector bureaucrats or contractors to the NZ government. Membership requests are routinely turned away, although Snively stated she has only turned down two memberships in the last nine months. Media Law Journal blogger Steven Price advised he had to go through an interview to join last year but Ms Snively disputes this, saying it is simply customary for TINZ directors to have coffee with prospective members as a welcome due to most prospects being already known to the members and that Mr Price apparently misconstrued the process.

At least Mr Price was not arrested, as Vince Seimer was when he tried to join.

 Ms Snively does concede the chapter has been run poorly in the past but says she is committed to increasing transparency and membership, declaring it imperative that the chapter increase its funding from memberships and individual donations. She says the non-for-profit's failure to comply with the Incorporated Societies Act and confusion over its Constitution are due to poor administration prior to her becoming involved.

 Last month, within a week of being informed by kiwisfirst that TINZ had failed its statutory obligation to register its rules as an incorporated society, a December 2009 amended version of its rules were filed with the New Zealand Companies Office. The Berlin parent organisation expressed concern about the lapse and said it would investigate.

John Banks prosecution referred to the Solicitor General - decision of Judge Mill:

The private prosecution of John Banks is proceeding through the Court, and has just been referred to the Solicitor General.  On 7 November 2012, and again on 16 April 2013,  Judge I G Mill found that there was sufficient evidence of a prima facie case against the defendant.

The Police investigation into allegations of electoral fraud arising from the debacle commonly known as the Kim Dotcom Disaster found that the defendant had transmitted an election return false in a material particular (the subject donations were not anonymous, and Banks knew they were not) and had sufficient evidence to charge him summarily under Section 134(2) of the Local Electoral Act. However they were statutorily barred from doing so under the provisions of the Summary Proceedings Act that required an Information to be filed within six months of the alleged offence.

The Police made sure that their 'investigation' found that there was insufficient evidence that the defendant knew that the donations were not anonymous, and then claimed that they were unable to charge him under Section 134(1) of the  Act, as well as delaying the investigation beyond the statutory period according to Section 134(2). For these reasons no public prosecution was commenced by the Police, and it was left to Wellington businessman Graham McCready to instigate a private prosecution instead - this is the state of democracy in New Zealand - very sad indeed.

Judge Mill has now referred the matter to the Solicitor General to prosecute.

The District Court Memorandum served on the Solicitor General on 29 April 2013 is attached, with the decision of Judge Mill: