LF Catches Up With EQC Blogger Marc Krieger in Switzerland

LF catches up with ECQ Blogger, New Zealand’s very own Jason Bourne, Mr Marc Krieger – enjoying the last of Switzerlands spectacular winter snows – photograph copyright laudafinem.com – lol

Our regular readers will be aware that the team @ Lauda Finem take an interest in all things “Australasian” especially where it concerns injustice, corruption and the two countries movers and shakers who have vested interests in insuring that their nasty behaviour continues to remain concealed.

Of course, it goes without saying, that LF is far from the only blog that has taken on the role that New Zealand’s mainstream media in particular have long since abdicated, that of investigating, connecting the often concealed connections and telling the whole truth – warts and all.

As we have previously said one true barometer of New Zealand’s growing problem with its central governments systemic corruption is to be found in the growing number of blogs and web forums that have popped up over the past five years, all apparently dedicated to outing the often criminal offending of the New Zealand Government and its employees, most with a particular focus on the New Zealand police and its criminal justice system.

One such blog that arrived on the blogging scene on the 1st November 2011, taking New Zealand by storm, was eqctruths.wordpress.com a blog that soon started rocking the foundations of government by exposing alleged corruption in and around Christchurch’s recovery from the catastrophic earthquake of 22nd February 2011.

Like LF, but for different reasons, the blog was at first published anonymously; the only clue being that the blogger had been employed by the EQC and was privy to some seriously compromising information that appeared to contradict the bullshit and spin that National party governments minister and despot Gerry Brownlee had been peddling to the desperate residents of Cantabury for far to long.

Then in April this year the shit really hit the fan for the government when the blogger apparently managed to obtain an ECQ spreadsheet and published it. The information contained in the document evidenced the fact that the Earth Quake Commission had been misleading the city’s residents and the property owners who’s homes and businesses had been damaged or destroyed.

New Zealand’s mainstream media quickly assisted in trying to spin the story away from the EQC, the government and its culpability, preferring instead to focus largely on attacking the messenger (As most outlets continue to do). At first the finger was pointed at an innocent party, EQC critic Bryan Staples.

The ECQ put out media release after media release using threatening language, claiming that they had spent upwards of NZ $150’000.00 trying to limit or stop the online desimination of the highly embarrassing information and Minister Gerry Brownlee was also doing his utmost to intimidate the as yet unidentified blogger with the usual National party rhetoric and political spin. Meanwhile newsrooms throughout New Zealand were a hive of activity, each clamouring to be the first to identify and name the party responsible.

But the anonymous blogger, to his credit, was not one to be easily intimidated by a gaggle of half arsed banana republic politicians and their suckhole bent civil servants. In fact he had already released information that should have immediately identified him had Gerry Brownlee been paying attention. He had called Brownlee and complained about the antics and dodgy dealings at the ECQ, wanting a meeting so as to address what he felt were pressing issues and systemic failures.

But no, if one is to believe Gerry Brownlee he at first could not recall the alleged call and then when forced to acknowledge it he only managed a very vague recollection. Lauda Finem had of course by that stage already made contact with the anonymous blogger and was assisting in thwarting the Governments spin doctors and their attempts at a coverup.

Eventually, having already witnessed first hand the outrageous antics of a Government and compliant media that was hell bent on burying the scandal rather than address the alleged systemic problems with the ECQ the blogger set in motion his withdrawal strategy.

Part of that strategy was to liquidate and transfer any assetts that he had in New Zealand moving everything out of harms way into a foreign jurisdiction. Once accomplished and already cognicesent of the governments likely method of retaliation the blogger, as planned, had left the country permanently, once he was safely out of harms way he then outed himself as New Zealand’s very own version of Jason Bourne – Mr Marc Krieger a foreign national who was by then well beyond the reach of the Kiwi political fraudsters and its courts.

The New Zealand media true to form were however pursuing a story that attempted to detail events with quite a different and somewhat unique spin – their task?  To attempt to rewrite history, by falsely claiming:

Source: EQC blogger’s identity revealed (Fairfax NZ)

LF knows when Fairfax or the other Kiwi outlets are publishing a government endorsed spin piece, theres never a journo’s name put to the story. We also know for a fact that Marc Krieger was never on holiday in Switzerland, Fairfax (NZ) had blatantly and intentionally mislead its New Zealand readers in a complicit attempt to assist the governments spin doctors (ex journos, often friends) in justifying the squandering of yet another NZ$200’000.00 of taxpayers money flogging a dead horse, or as they say keeping up the appearance that they were in control. When LF meet up with Marc Krieger he put it perhaps a little more succinctly:

“I promised the crooked parasites at EQC, Chapman Tripp, and (in)justice Collins of the High Court that they would never get a cent from me.  I (had) moved all my assets outside New Zealand long ago and any ‘victory’ would be purely pyrrhic.  The High Court lacked jurisdiction, as I live in Switzerland.  I have rereleased the spreadsheet to render the High Court’s ruling irrelevant and worthy of contempt”

In fact it was Krieger that had, once safely in Switzerland, written to advise ECQ’s lawyers at “Chapman Tripp” that he had, as planned, left New Zealand permanently and it was only at that point that the crowns legal clowns in gowns where even able to put a face to the man behind the blog.

Marc Krieger is representative of a new breed of protester. He and his blog www.ecqtruths.wordpress.org are also representative of a new force in the dissemination of information in the public interest. A force that has been long overdue given the attitude of mainstream media; an attitude born of vested interests, political back scratching, secret “wink wink nudge nudges“,  the political ideologies of owners and shareholders and pure unadulterated greed.

Media have been quick to bemoan the disintegration of their business model in the wake of the internet age, but theirs a lot more to it than just the internet. Content is everything and the mainstream media has for decades been able to put their spin on stories, in some cases to the point where the story is no longer a true account. Investigative journalism is all but dead and for the most part journo’s, especially in New Zealand, are loath to pursue corruption stories or risk outing bent politicians incase their newsrooms receive no telephone calls.

One of the problems with the New Zealand media is that many of the country’s current crop of journos now work for the government and often threaten or dangle the preverbal carrot so as to get the media to comply with the governments wishes. Cronyism, the cult of personality and nepotism abound as it does in any small Pacific island nation thats very much isolated from the real world.

This is evident in the way New Zealand’s mainstream media has dealt with blogger Marc Krieger and his blowing the whistle on the government and the county’s statutory insurer, the Earth Quake Commission. Lie after lie, mistruths, half truths anything but the truth.

The truth of the medias complicity in the Governments agenda is to be found in a story that Fairfax published little more than a couple of hours after Marc Krieger had published his response to corrupt ex solicitor general and self appointed Justice David Collins bullshit decision. Knowing that Krieger had left the country along with his liquidated assets and that there was no chance of chasing him fairfax’s Charles Anderson, no doubt under the instruction of his editor, still chose to run a piece clearly designed to scare off anyone else who might just have the balls to take on the New Zealand establishment and its media monopolies:

“Blogger may face EQC court case costs” – Yeah Right!! Perhaps when hell freezes over? What are your thoughts Charles Anderson. Despite a complicit mainstream medias assistance with the political spin, for the various players, including a Government that has for years managed to conceal its dirty laundry aided and abetted by public servants who’s career advancement has largely depended on their willing compliance with corrupt practice, many now in senior positions having cut their teeth with the countries infamously corrupt police force the future is not looking good.  Perhaps thats the real reason why John Key desperately wanted to rush through his new GCSB laws.

So far the New Zealand Government has likely spent close to NZ$400’000.00 on an exercise in total futility and New Zealand’s very own Jason Bourne, supported by other bloggers such as Lauda Finem, is now set to strike again.

Marc Krieger did the right thing and whats more LF believes that he’s right to keep his promises, after all he always has:

“I promised the crooked parasites at EQC, Chapman Tripp, and (in)justice Collins of the High Court that they would never get a cent from me” – Marc Krieger

Marcs latest blog post can read here: EQC Truths Defeats EQC and Kangaroo Court!

The media

The Team @ Lauda Finem will continue to support Marc Krieger and his decision to take on the EQC and New Zealands thoroughly bent bureaucracy, so stay tuned there may be more to come in this “David verses Goliath” saga.

If you have a story that needs to be told why not contact the team at www.laudafinem.org – laudafinem@bigpond.com

Related articles

• Blogger may face EQC court case costs (stuff.co.nz)
• EQC blog ‘not in public interest’ – court told (stuff.co.nz)
• Insurance advocate wants EQC inquiry widened (radionz.co.nz)
• EQC pays legal costs over email blunder (stuff.co.nz)
• Brownlee orders inquiry over EQC surveys (radionz.co.nz)
• 200 sign for possible class action against EQC (radionz.co.nz)
• EQC performance ‘mixed’ – Auditor-General report (nzherald.co.nz)
• EQC excludes 31,000 claimants from survey (atlasmonitor.wordpress.com)