Chester the porky teller

Kerry James Borrows, stretcher of the truth.

Have you heard of a person named Kerry James Borrows? Well he’s an old chap who is the National Party MP for Whanganui known as Chester Borrows. He’s an ex-policeman turned lawyer, now that’s a strange mix, never-the-less one would assume that he would have an elementary   understanding of the word truth. Policemen always tell the truth don’t they? Al least that’s what the police PR machine tells us on a daily basis. You know: “I swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God”

This policeman / lawyer proclaimed “new” measures by the government to detect and deal to (alleged) fraudsters; you see this wee chap is also Associate Social Development Minister in the Key / Dunne / Banks / Maori Party government.

In his eagerness to reveal some good news for the government this strange Associate Minister had an unknown back bencher ask a patsy question [a patsy question is one written by the minister and given to a back bench nobody to ask so that the minister can read a press release to the house during question time].

Borrows smiled gleefully and revealed that because the IRD and the Social Development Ministry are now working together for the first time they had caught three thousand plus fraudsters and saved the country fifty million dollars. He was so proud of his masterly effort that he grew six inches while telling of his brave deeds.

But deep down in his ex-policeman’s padlocked heart he knew he was stretching the truth to breaking point. He knew he was talking crap of the highest order, he knew he was doing a Steven Joyce Sky City style bull-s*** deal.

But Borrows had been instructed to spin his line as a vital part of National’s on-going war against the poor; the unemployed; solo-mums; widows; etc.

He knew that none of the 3000 so called fraudsters had been convicted, or even charged. He knew calling someone a fraudster was calling them a criminal…but none of them were criminals because none of them had even been charged and convicted.

He knew this because he was a policeman, but alas he couldn’t bring himself to tell his big boss that he wouldn’t lie and thereby demean thousands of innocent beneficiaries. So he bit his tongue, swallowed his pride and told a few whoppers and porkies.

There are far more people who avoid paying the correct of tax and who are costing the country billions in lost income than there are solo mums ripping off the system and the IRD and MSW have been working together since 2001 by sharing information so as to prevent solo mums and others from ripping off the system. In fact, just a short while back it was proven that because of poor management that the MSD ripped itself off to the tune of many millions, and that many of the biggest fraudsters were MSD staff. 

Note: MSD plan to send staff around to solo mums homes to check if the toilet seat is up...they are recruiting sacked ex-police for this vital task...lets hope they are better at that than catching young male rapists in Auckland.

This from: Frank MacSkasy:  

- See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/12/06/oia-request-points-to-beneficiary-beat-up-by-minister-chester-borrows-2/#sthash.lwDLbrTG.dpuf

Borrows was asked:

Over what period of time were these 3,139 cases detected?

Borrows replied; “From 18 March to 14 July 2013 the information sharing agreement detected 3,139 cases of benefit fraud which resulted in the cancellation of a benefit.”

When did IRD and WINZ begin sharing information?

Borrows; “In May 2012 an Order in Council was passed that allows for Inland Revenue to share information with the Ministry of Social Development. To support this a memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development and the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.

This has led to a new programme of work in which Inland Revenue provides the Ministry of Social Development with income and employer information for all working age people in receipt of a benefit. In September 2012 a test of the information sharing agreement was undertaken to ensure data integrity and system compatibility. Full information sharing for the detection of undeclared earnings commenced in March 2013.”

How many prosecutions have been undertaken of all nine cohorts listed above?
Borrows replied,

“Information about the number of prosecutions undertaken is refused under section 9(2)(f)(iv) of the Official Information Act. This part of the Act allows me to refuse your request as the Ministry is still in the process of deciding whether to prosecute these individuals, therefore this matter is still under active consideration. While I understand that there is a significant public interest in the functions of the Ministry, I believe that in this case the public interest does not outweigh the necessity to protect the Ministry’s investigation and prosecution process.”

I take it from his response that “as the Ministry is still in the process of deciding whether to prosecute these individuals, therefore this matter is still under active consideration” – that no prosecutions have taken place up until the time of the letter being written.
Not one single person out of the  3,139 cases was prosecuted.
Not. A. One.

So the alleged fraud was either of an insignificant nature (one or two weeks) – or the cases were so flimsy and ill-defined that a Court would have thrown out the charges.
Or they weren’t “fraud” at all.

How many have been convicted?
Borrows’ response,

“Prosecutions stemming from these cases are still in progress, and I am advised that none have yet been resolved. As such there have been no convictions to date.
No convictions?

So much media hype surrounding 3,139 cases – and not a single prosecution or conviction.
It seems apparent that this was little more than a propaganda exercise and useful only to beef up National’s ‘tough-on-welfare-abuse” image. Any serious fraud is never countenanced by any government and prosecutions are relentlessly pursued.

Isn’t nice to know that we have such honest and trusty types like Kerry James Borrows running our country…still we are lucky he is no longer in the Police Force.