New Zealand IRD – The Blomfield frauds, the liquidators, the lawyers, the police and the media collaborators

Just the other day New Zealand’s Whale Oil Blog ran a couple of stories on a series of fraud and corruption allegations inveigling New Zealand’s Inland Revenue Department (IRD). Whilst the journo responsible, Stephen Cook, would undoubtedly have preferred that those involved be named the Whale Oil blog is unable to do so.

The ring leader involved is a protected species in New Zealand for legal reasons that the courts have so far foolishly entertained.

Team Lauda Finem however have no such limitations as we are not subject to New Zealand’s laws, its courts or the bullshit gag order Whale Oil has been subjected to. Kiwi investigative journalist Stephen Cook reports:

IRD BRIBERY & FRAUD SCANDAL: A SPECIAL INVESTIGATION – Cont….

12th August 2015

SHOCK DETAILS have emerged of a failed plot by the husband of a top Government official to extort $500,000 from an Auckland lawyer implicated in a messy bribery scandal.

The man at the centre of the blackmail allegations is Graham Charles Hare, the husband of deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Rose Wall – one of the most influential figures in the public health system.

The allegations form part of the backdrop to a complex web of betrayal and deception implicating liquidators, lawyers, IRD staff and one other man, who for legal reasons cannot be named.

The extortion plot was allegedly hatched during discussions between Hare and a businessman, who’d been threatening to lay a complaint with the Law Society about the actions of an Auckland lawyer involved in winding up his company.

Hare allegedly told the man that the lawyer in question had recently inherited $1 million and was vulnerable to attack.

A Law Society investigation into his involvement in the bribery scandal would not only cost him his license but also his lucrative practice and his home, which was heavily mortgaged.

Hare then allegedly told the businessman he’d be willing to act as a facilitator in the plot to extort money from the lawyer. He would approach the lawyer, advise him of the Law Society complaint and then convince him to pay $500,000 hush money, which he’d then split.

The businessman didn’t agree to the deal with Hare, claiming at the time he couldn’t “trust the bastard”.

He has subsequently filed a complaint with the Law Society not just about the actions of the lawyer, but also over Hare.

The complaint follows the bizarre events around the sale two years ago of an Auckland distribution company, heavily in debt at the time to Inland Revenue.

Rather than meet his $200,000-plus tax liability, the owner of the company chose to involve an Auckland man purporting to be a lawyer who claimed for the sum of $30,000 he could pay off liquidators and IRD officials to significantly reduce the tax bill.

The man paid over the cash and ended up only paying the sum of $30,000 to Inland Revenue.

Secretly recorded video obtained by Whaleoil also shows Hare was aware of the bribery allegations and the payment made to the man claiming to be a barrister. It is understood he witnessed the cash being handed over in an Auckland carpark.

A complaint has since been laid with IRD over the actions of two forensic investigators allegedly involved in the plot to defraud the taxman out of $200,000.

Top-level discussions are today being held in Auckland between IRD, the company owner and a separate complainant.

IRD has so far refused to comment on the case, citing secrecy provisions in the Tax Administration Act.

Which means the question remains why IRD agreed to settle for just 15 per cent of what was owed when it was fully aware $385,000 was available from the sale of the business to pay the taxman.

Whaleoil understands the letter of complaint lodged with IRD over the matter alleges the two staff members were either paid off “to cover things up” or were complicit in some other way.

Hare and Wall did not respond to requests for an interview.

Source: Whale Oil

IRD BRIBERY & FRAUD SCANDAL: A SPECIAL INVESTIGATION – Cont…

INLAND REVENUE is officially investigating the actions of those implicated in a messy bribery scandal currently threatening the integrity of the New Zealand taxation system.

Top-level discussions were held in Auckland yesterday between senior IRD investigators and a number of complainants over the alleged criminal conduct of those involved in what appears to be an elaborate plot to defraud taxpayers out of millions of dollars.

But more importantly, at stake is the integrity of the taxation system and the right of all taxpayers to have their liability determined “fairly, impartially and according to law”.

If IRD were to ignore the allegations, it could open itself up to potentially billions of dollars worth of claims from aggrieved taxpayers wanting the same preferential treatment enjoyed by the company at the centre of the latest scandal.

The company had tax liabilities of close to $300,000 but successfully negotiated a final settlement of $30,000 after involving a man who claimed at the time he was a ‘lawyer’ with considerable influence over IRD.

The man – who cannot be named for legal reasons – is not a lawyer, but rather a practised conman who is now facing the real possibility of jail time for his alleged criminal conduct, which is believed to extend far beyond just this one company.

He allegedly told the businessman that for the sum of $30,000 he could significantly reduce the company’s tax bill by bribing “liquidators and friends in the police and IRD.

The businessman handed over $27,000 in cash to the “lawyer”

The businessman agreed to the deal, meeting the man in a car park where he handed over the sum of $27,000 in $100 bills.

Shortly after handing over the cash the business owner began to have second thoughts. He was unfamiliar with the liquidation process so spoke to friends who warned him ‘it’s going to be a fucking nightmare”. The liquidators would be relentless, he was told, in fulfilling their obligations to the creditors and wouldn’t let up until they knew where every dollar from the sale of the business went.

Or so the business owner was led to believe.

He claims when he met the liquidator, who works for a leading Auckland firm of accountants not one question was asked.

The business owner assumed the man purporting to be a lawyer had been good to his word and had paid the liquidator off.

The IRD investigation is expected to focus on the actions of the liquidator, who charged the princely sum of $45,000 to wind up the company at the centre of this controversy. Normally a liquidation of this scale would cost $5000.

Investigators – who have the power to lay charges not just under the Tax Administration Act but also the Crimes Act – are also expected to be chasing the man who claimed he was a lawyer along with two other men, both of whom are in fact lawyers.

One of those men was responsible for overseeing the winding up of the company in question and is believed to have either taken part or at least been aware of the conspiracy to defraud the taxman and the previous business owner.

Source: WhaleOil

As aforesaid we here at LF have no such limitations when it comes to who we can name. We also have the benefit of knowing every detail in the whole sorry saga from start to finish. We’ll therefore go through Stephen Cooks article’s above and name those involved. LF is obviously well aware of where this case is going.

We are also confident that it will eventually have a number of particularly malicious and politically motivated people seriously concerned, having played a supporting role in Blomfield’s ongoing criminal behaviour. Key among those who have been hell-bent on concealing some pretty serious criminal offending by the individuals named below are political bloggers Pete George, Lynn Prentice and Greg Presland. All have fallen for the scams and lies that Blomfield’s criminal cabal have employed over the past three years in an attempt cover their tracks.

The mainstream media too share much of the culpability for assisting in the concealing of some pretty serious criminal offending, arguably predominantly assisted by APN journo’s. The New Zealand Herald and it’s off-shoot the Herald on Sunday are more culpable than any other, although Fairfax NZ’s Sunday Star Times newspaper has also worked to coverup the offending of the fraudster posing as a lawyer.

The new editor, ex APN employee, Jonathan Milne particularly culpable, having worked to pull an important story that one SST journo had worked with a member of team LF on for more than 3 months.

We here at Lauda Finem are of the opinion that Milne did so to hide the skullduggery he and his underlings had been engaging in whilst he was an editor with APN.

LF can reveal that the man who misrepresented himself as a lawyer whilst conspiring to defraud New Zealand’s Inland Revenue Department (IRD) out of circa $300’000 was non other than serial fraudster Matthew John Blomfield. Blomfield and his accomplice Graeme Hare are also being investigated over two serious allegations of extortion with menaces, Blomfield having made demands with menace and on two occasions having part payments totalling $30’000 in $100 notes in a car park, and a further allegation of conspiracy to blackmail

Blomfield who came to prominence for his far fetched defamation tort against Kiwi Blogger Cameron Slater, an abuse of process in an attempt to obtain the names of Slater’s sources to prevent any further investigation into his frauds and extortions. Blomfield’s intention simply to intimidate his victims (Slater’s sources).

Blomfield is now under investigation by senior IRD investigators.

The High Court has also recently heard an application by Blomfield to have Slater incarcerated for allegedly failing to comply with a court order, although it has been argued by Slater that his original offer not to publish was purely to facilitate a settlement conference, and thus it had been a voluntary arrangement in the first instance. Now however its being used as a bold faced attempt to pervert justice and avoid more publicity, an application that should never have been entertained by courts given Blomfields continuing failure to get on with the substantive defamation allegation.

LF can also now reveal that in addition to the IRD’s investigation into the allegations against Blomfield the New Zealand police have been in receipt of a number of very serious complaints of fraud, menacing behaviour and extortion, those complaints filed by at least three victims, one of which is acting on behalf of creditors, the liquidator of Dunedin businessman Carl Storm’s failed Storm Group company Plan Z investments.

The firm of forensic accountants liquidating Plan Z have alleged that Blomfield stole around $100’000 from the Plan Z bank accounts using Auckland law firm Heimsath Alexanders trust account, all parties to the fraud knowing Blomfield had absolutely no legal entitlement to the money. Police have had these complaints for more than 6 months and appear, for some inexplicable reason, to be dragging the chain, having failed as yet to even interview Matthew Blomfield or the lawyers involved, Michael Alexander and John Heimsath.

The people and entities being investigated in relation to the frauds as set out in  Stephen Cooks articles and the IRD investigation are New Zealand accountancy firm Grant Thornton and two of that corporates senior staff, liquidator Greg Sherriff and Grant Thornton partner Tim Downes.

The Auckland law firms caught up in these frauds include, Heimsath Alexander and Central Park Law, with lawyers Bruce Johnson, Graeme Hare, Mike Alexander and John Heimsath also now under investigation by the IRD. LF can also reveal that the New Zealand Law society has also received complaints surrounding these four seriously bent Kiwi lawyers.

Team Lauda Finem have been actively investigating Matthew John Blomfield and his criminal associates, including the aforementioned lawyers since early 2013. In fact the pages of LF are loaded with information detailing Blomfield and his known associates past frauds, including the ones that have now triggered both the police and IRD investigations.

The fact that the IRD has now acted to investigate comes after months of hard work by LF and Blomfields many historic victims, additional victims and witnesses having finally come forward despite receiving serious threats from Blomfield and his associates, including Lawyer Graeme Hare.

As both Stephen Cook and previously LF have pointed out Graeme Hare is married to the National party appointed Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Rose Wall.

Serious questions now need to be asked of the New Zealand Police, the Serious Fraud Office, Crown Solicitors Meredith Connell, the New Zealand Companies office and the office of the official assignee responsible for Blomfields 2010 bankruptcy as to why they failed to investigate repeated allegations of frauds properly and why it was that Matthew Blomfield was then granted a special exemption under false pretext from his status as a banned Company Director.

That seriously questionable special exemption has now likely cost more Kiwis’ hundreds of thousands of dollars of their hard earned cash due to Blomfield’s involvement in the collapsed home building group Tribeca Homes and associated companies, which are now in the hands of Blomfield and his co-conspirators, including accountancy firm Grant Thorton and their liquidator Greg Sherriff and Tim Downes.

As Stephen Cooks own investigation unfurles we here at LF will be following up and naming the people responsible and where ever possible, or required, supplying additional information if available.

Birds of a Feather

Team LF have formed the view that the polices failure to investigate complaints of fraud amount to a serious breach of a statutory duty. In fact it almost seems to be an intentional move by police and in that regard one would have to ask why Blomfield has to date seemingly been protected by police.

It may well be a situation where civil proceedings should be initiated against the police for their clear failure, after all that failure has resulted in ongoing damage to New Zealand business community, Mum ans Dad Kiwi consumers and the country’s reputation amongst international business circles, inclusive of bringing New Zealands taxation authorities into disrepute with allegations of serious corruption, including kickbacks.

This is in fact the second of LF’s investigations, where police in the first instance had failed to act in accordance with the law, that has seen results in as many weeks. Very recently New Zealand’s High Court released a judgement that was damning of another New Zealand government agency.

In this case too there is real evidence of serious corruption. That body is the Real Estate Agents Authority (REAA) and the systemic failures in their investigation and dealings with another Kiwi fraudster that we took an interest in back in 2012.

The perpetrator Martin Honey and Real Estate firm Pure Realty Limited trading as “Ray White” very nearly escaped investigation and prosecution for running a fraudulent “ReMax” branded website that Honey had paid to have set up to steal his competitors clients, in this case the genuine ReMax franchise holder for the same territory, a franchise that Honey had in fact relinquished.

LF can now also reveal that in addition to the High Court action Martin Honey’s ex wife Stephanie Honey and contracted web developer Hemi Taka are currently before the District Court, facing criminal charges, in relation to the REAA investigation and hearing, perjury and the fraud itself. Interestingly the New Zealand Herald has been fully aware of that prosecution but has failed to report on it despite publishing various other stories designed to assist Ray White New Zealand, Martin Honey and the defendants now facing criminal prosecution.

LF understands that the High Courts decision now paves the way for further legal action, ultimately to reclaim the substantial losses incurred by the victims of the fraud, a claim that could well reach millions of dollars when combined with associated defamation and exemplary or punitive damages, should the Court deem it appropriate to award in the highly unusual circumstances.

Interestingly, once again APN’s New Zealand Herald, Herald on Sunday and the independently owned Otago Daily Times have been implicated in a conspiracy to conduct a smear campaign against the victims on behalf of both Martin Honey and New Zealand’s master franchise holder for Ray White.

Again, somewhat interestingly, the CEO of Ray White New Zealand, Carey Smith was caught out on national television following a TV3 sting operation, an investigation into the fraudulent and rorting behaviour of New Zealand’s real estate agents, including Rat White (NZ) franchise operators.

LF’s investigations into these two particular cases over the past four years has now been expanded. We’re now also looking very closely at the behaviour of at least two political blogs, the New Zealand Labour Party aligned The Standard and another Dunedin based publication, Your NZ.

Political bloggers Pete George, Lynn Prentice and Greg Presland are also being investigated in relation to at least four instances of contempt of court and in addition false and misleading material they have on the face of it also been party to publishing.

That investigation surrounds allegations of another smear campaign, conducted by these bloggers in collusion with Matthew John Blomfield, retired civil servant turned leftist political activist Graeme Wislang, ex-cops turned private investigators Daniel Toresen and his father Danny Thompson.

LF’s regular readers will remember that both Thompson and Toresen were implicated in the theft of nearly $100’000.00 from one of Blomfield former business partners. Both Toresen and Wislang were also caught red-handed knowingly manufacturing and supplying false and misleading information to police in support of false complaints filed by Matthew Blomfield.

There is so much more to come in relation to these two cases, including the hacking of another blog, a hack that went very wrong, being spotted by the intended victim before it had started, resulting in the hacker being fed false but very appealing data.

Whilst we here at team LF are more than a little pleased with the fact that these two cases have turned a corner there is still much more work to be done. We look forward to bringing LF readers more detail on these stories as the Blomfield and Honey frauds/cyber scams unfold.

Who knows, with a little bit of luck we might even catch New Zealand’s infamous “Rawshark” in the process. We suspect that most Kiwi’s would take a very dim view indeed of scumbag’s that had used and abused their country’s judicial system for no other purpose than to meet their own political aims. In fact it might just wipe the gloss of Nicky Hager’s most recent work and the reputations of a number of Hager’s more prominent media buddies.