Posts by James Green
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It if wasn't and Swann was clever enough to fly "under the radar" so to speak, then you're right it would have required a very detailed audit to pick it up.
There's some answers to your questions in these. The IT spend was high (but not ridiculous), and the level of spending seemed constant (they were looking for exceptions).
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/33754/swann-firm-top-10-odhb-suppliers
Also, Thompson wrote a letter, the latter part of which is interesting reading. I've got a few interesting bits here:
"Michael Swann's significant advantage was that he was in charge of the department he was stealing from, it was an area that few had the technical expertise to fully understand, and he never tried to hide his wealth."
"I didn't know Swann outside the work environment and apparently was one of the few people in Otago who didn't know he was wealthy.
But those who knew him did know that he was wealthy.
Most to whom I have since spoken believed that he was independently wealthy."" One of Brian Rousseau's early actions after his arrival here was to get an independent review done of our IT strategy.
The reviewers' list does not include the "contracts" because, if they existed at the time, Swann made sure they were not available to review."Also, I can't find the bit in the ODT, but I believe he got the first invoices through during a change in command, and subsequently, it was assumed that the appropriate scrutiny would have been applied when the invoices started arriving (assumption being the MOAFUs of course).
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There is quite a bit of additional material in the ODT today that's not online. Having followed this through the ODT over the years its been unfolding, it's kind of frustrating watching some more uninformed comment.
*There's a lot of emphasis on 17mill figure, but less on that that being 6 years worth of fraud.
*During Swann's employment 8year ODHB he claimed they handled 2.4 billion dollars worth of funds (current year figure 511).
*Therefore, the size of the fraud on an annual basis, and as a proportion of total funds is relatively low.
*Swann was fingered by an internal audit by the CFO.
*There was an increase in IT expenditure, but there is an extent to which they were paying money they could have been paying, but were not receiving any service for the money. So while the budget was larger than expected, some of the defrauded money would have been spent on IT had they had a competent manager. -
I'm feeling pretty pleased with my own reading of the entrails...
Heh. Actually, I can slightly discount my smugness because I originally picked the top would be earlier, which is why I was having to refix last May.
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I confess to being a little bemused by this one. My sense is that that people locking for a really long time locked for a long time last time. I was talking to one of my colleagues around a year ago who locked for 5 years, being all smug coming off their last 5 year fixed rate. There was also a reasonably substantial discount (over 1% to fix for longer rather than shorter). I dread to think what the break fees on that would be.
I'm somewhat smug in that I took a higher short term rate for one of my mortgages which will roll off in May. The other comes off in early March. -
trademe? I see John Key is going to auction his cast on that site. Do you think he is going to sign it?
Is it all his own work?
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I'm just pleased that 'Yellow' have got around to making the new whitepages play with Firefox. They'd somehow coded the links so they were unclickable (but worked fine in the Browser of the Beast).
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On a rather less grave point
The driver kept not moving up as space cleared in front
I don't know how extreme this case was, but when stuck in a long queue of traffic, everyone keeping their motor running to creep forward another couple of metres now and then is a pretty colossal waste of gaskranken. Also, it makes life less stinky for the bugger behind.
On the merits of this, I've now become a bit of a slow creeper.
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I guess Mr Henry does have his uses from time to time...
Sunrise had a very informal tone for the broadcast, and talked pretty much entirely over Warren. They were joking around about something and obviously looked over at the monitor and were like "woah! still going"
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I don't have time to comment on this in a very nuanced fashion, but there is some other interesting additional stuff out there as well as the Ferguson study. (Disc: I know these researchers)
It Takes Two to Tangle: Gender Symmetry in Intimate Partner Violence
This study examined the equivalence of male and female intimate partner violence (IPV) across three samples of the New Zealand population (student, general, and incarcerated). Additionally, we compared the attitudes of victims and perpetrators. Findings revealed that although the incarcerated sample experienced a higher frequency of violence, the nature of IPV was similar across the samples. More importantly, our findings showed gender symmetry in IPV with male and female IPV being similar in frequency, severity, and injury. There was, however, some variation in the type of physical abuse acts perpetrated as a function of gender. Furthermore, victims and perpetrators reported similar attitudes and behaviors that differentiated them from participants with no history of physical violence. These included being more hostile, holding traditional gendered beliefs, and lacking communication and anger management skills. A rethinking of how we view IPV is recommended in light of these findings.
I don't think this makes Ralston's argument tenable. And I would love to have the time to discuss social marketing, but I'll leave some science and leave. There is also some more interesting stuff by those authors looking at how those involved in violent relationships communicate differently. Food for thought. -
Just to be clear, the correct spelling is Pinot gris, not Pinot Gris.
Ditto, Pinot noir, Sauvignon blanc.
Things like 'Pinot', 'Sauvignon' and 'Cabernet Sauvignon' are cultivars, and the final colours are descriptors, not the part of the cultivar name.
So uber-geekily
Vitis vinifera 'Pinot' gris