Serious Fraud Office investigation Taratahi

William Hale made this Official Information request to Ministry of Education

The request was partially successful.

From: William Hale

Dear Ministry of Education,

Can you provide me with a summary of the Serious Fraud Investigation findings relating to the investigation (circa 2015) into overpayments made to Taratahi by TEC . Specific culpabilities regarding staff directives to defraud by senior management are of specific interest to me, as is repayment arrangements of the admitted overpayments to Taratahi.

Yours faithfully,Bill Hale

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From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education

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From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education


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Dear Bill

 

 

Please see attached your OIA Transfer letter 1058678

 

 

Thanks

 

 

Enquiries National Team | Ministry of Education | TW
33 Bowen St, Wellington

[1]education.govt.nz  |  [2]Follow us on Twitter: @EducationGovtNZ
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D13D76.52897370
We get the job done  Ka oti i a mātou ngā mahi
We are respectful, we listen, we learn  He rōpū manaaki, he rōpū
whakarongo, he rōpū ako mātou
We back ourselves and others to win  Ka manawanui ki a mātou, me ētahi ake
kia wikitoria
We work together for maximum impact  Ka mahi ngātahi mō te tukinga nui
tonu

Great results are our bottom line  Ko ngā huanga tino pai ā mātou whāinga
mutunga

[4]Ministry of Education logo

 

 

 

References

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1. http://www.education.govt.nz/
2. https://twitter.com/mineducationnz
4. http://www.education.govt.nz/

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From: William Hale

Dear Enquiries National,

The reason I made inquiry with The MOE was that repeated inquiries by me to the SFO were completely ignored by the SFO.
To now be referred back to the SFO by the MOE is ,i think , very frustrating, as
this investigation relates directly to misappropriated TEC funding (which, I would have thought, is the MOE's area of responsibility)

Yours sincerely,

William Hale

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From: Enquiries National
Ministry of Education

Hi Bill

We have transferred your request to the Serious Fraud Office as they are the appropriate agency to respond to your request. They will respond to you directly.

However, as you may be aware the Tertiary Education Commission is responsible for investing government funding in tertiary education organisations as well as monitoring their performance. You can contact them at the following email address if you think they may be able to assist in anyway ([email address]).

Thanks

Enquiries National Team | Ministry of Education | TW
33 Bowen St, Wellington

-----Original Message-----
From: William Hale [mailto:[FOI #5781 email]]
Sent: Wednesday, 26 April 2017 3:45 p.m.
To: Enquiries National
Subject: Re: OIA Transfer letter 1058678

Dear Enquiries National,

The reason I made inquiry with The MOE was that repeated inquiries by me to the SFO were completely ignored by the SFO.
To now be referred back to the SFO by the MOE is ,i think , very frustrating, as this investigation relates directly to misappropriated TEC funding (which, I would have thought, is the MOE's area of responsibility)

Yours sincerely,

William Hale

-----Original Message-----

Dear Bill

 

 

Please see attached your OIA Transfer letter 1058678

 

 

Thanks

 

 

Enquiries National Team | Ministry of Education | TW
33 Bowen St, Wellington

[1]education.govt.nz  |  [2]Follow us on Twitter: @EducationGovtNZ
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D13D76.52897370
We get the job done  Ka oti i a mātou ngā mahi We are respectful, we listen, we learn  He rōpū manaaki, he rōpū whakarongo, he rōpū ako mātou We back ourselves and others to win  Ka manawanui ki a mātou, me ētahi ake kia wikitoria We work together for maximum impact  Ka mahi ngātahi mō te tukinga nui tonu

Great results are our bottom line  Ko ngā huanga tino pai ā mātou whāinga mutunga

[4]Ministry of Education logo

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.education.govt.nz/
2. https://twitter.com/mineducationnz
4. http://www.education.govt.nz/

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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #5781 email]

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From: SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE

Dear Mr Hale

 

I refer to your below request for information from the Ministry of
Education dated Monday 24 April 2017:

 

Can you provide me with a summary of the Serious Fraud Investigation
findings relating to the investigation (circa 2015) into overpayments made
to Taratahi by TEC . Specific culpabilities regarding staff directives to
defraud by senior management are of specific interest to me, as is
repayment arrangements of the admitted overpayments to Taratahi.

 

We accepted a transfer of this request on Wednesday 26 April 2017.

 

We are currently considering your request in accordance with provisions of
both the Official Information Act 1982 and the Serious Fraud Office Act
1990. In order to assist us in responding to your request, can you please
outline what proper interest you have in receiving the information,
including the purpose for which you intend to use the information.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Sarah O’Brien

Evaluating Lawyer

This message may contain information that is confidential and may be
subject to obligations of secrecy in terms of Sections 36, 39 or 41 of the
Serious Fraud Office Act 1990. A breach of these secrecy provisions is an
offence. If you are not the intended recipient you must not peruse, use,
copy or disclose the contents to any other person. Messages sent or
received by members of the Serious Fraud Office are not private and may be
subject to monitoring. If you have received this message in error, please
contact the sender. Thank you.

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From: William Hale

Dear SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE,
Having been made redundant from a training company after a TEC investigation led to loss of contracts I am interested in the training provider Taratahi outcomes in that although found to be in receipt of overpayments and reports of directives to staff to defraud by senior management and admissions of mistakes made no investigation report was ever made public.
The TEC investigation into the company I was employed by (which did work for Taratahi) was made public. There seems a lack of transparency in this instance

Yours sincerely,

William Hale

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From: SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE

Dear Mr Hale

Thank you for the context provided below.

You can expect a response from us by Wednesday 24 May 2017.

Kind regards,

Sarah O'Brien
Evaluating Lawyer

-----Original Message-----
From: William Hale [mailto:[FYI request #5781 email]]
Sent: Wednesday, 17 May 2017 6:01 p.m.
To: SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Request for Information

Dear SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE,
Having been made redundant from a training company after a TEC investigation led to loss of contracts I am interested in the training provider Taratahi outcomes in that although found to be in receipt of overpayments and reports of directives to staff to defraud by senior management and admissions of mistakes made no investigation report was ever made public.
The TEC investigation into the company I was employed by (which did work for Taratahi) was made public. There seems a lack of transparency in this instance

Yours sincerely,

William Hale

-----Original Message-----

Dear Mr Hale

 

I refer to your below request for information from the Ministry of Education dated Monday 24 April 2017:

 

Can you provide me with a summary of the Serious Fraud Investigation findings relating to the investigation (circa 2015) into overpayments made to Taratahi by TEC . Specific culpabilities regarding staff directives to defraud by senior management are of specific interest to me, as is repayment arrangements of the admitted overpayments to Taratahi.

 

We accepted a transfer of this request on Wednesday 26 April 2017.

 

We are currently considering your request in accordance with provisions of both the Official Information Act 1982 and the Serious Fraud Office Act 1990. In order to assist us in responding to your request, can you please outline what proper interest you have in receiving the information, including the purpose for which you intend to use the information.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Sarah O’Brien

Evaluating Lawyer

This message may contain information that is confidential and may be subject to obligations of secrecy in terms of Sections 36, 39 or 41 of the Serious Fraud Office Act 1990. A breach of these secrecy provisions is an offence. If you are not the intended recipient you must not peruse, use, copy or disclose the contents to any other person. Messages sent or received by members of the Serious Fraud Office are not private and may be subject to monitoring. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender. Thank you.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FYI request #5781 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.

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From: SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE


Attachment 20170524 Signed response.pdf
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Dear Mr Hale

 

Please find attached our response to your request for information.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Sarah O’Brien

Evaluating Lawyer

This message may contain information that is confidential and may be
subject to obligations of secrecy in terms of Sections 36, 39 or 41 of the
Serious Fraud Office Act 1990. A breach of these secrecy provisions is an
offence. If you are not the intended recipient you must not peruse, use,
copy or disclose the contents to any other person. Messages sent or
received by members of the Serious Fraud Office are not private and may be
subject to monitoring. If you have received this message in error, please
contact the sender. Thank you.

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From: William Hale

Dear SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE,

This can hardly be called a summary as asked for and is, I think , inadequate

Yours sincerely,

William Hale

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Richard Thorpe left an annotation ()

Were you aware that TEC had released their audit report on Taratahi?

http://www.tec.govt.nz/assets/Reports/De...

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