Time bomb keeps on exploding -- John Davy loses his job again!

Even Kabul checks résumés.

Previous threads about John Davy:

• Ashland School of Business at Denver State University
  
  New Zealand's degree fraudster buys $35,000 Harley from prison

 

John Davy

I'd just posted a piece about poor old John Davy (Off-topic discussions) when Oxpeckers post appeared.
Whilst I wouldn't admit to supporting this viewpoint, there were
many people in New Zealand who believed that he had been hard done by, and that had John Davy been Polynesian, or of Polynesian ancestry, he would never have been prosecuted over his bogus degree.
The majority here would now most certainly agree that he served his penalty and that his fraudulent activity should now be forgotten.
As I said in the other slot - he was apparently performing
admirable work as the CEO of Maori TV.

 

Re: John Davy

FNHayes wrote:

> he was apparently performing admirable work as the CEO of
> Maori TV.

John Davy "wrote" a 13-page Code of Conduct for the Maori TV staff which he plagiarized from the World Wide Web (Davy's cut-and-paste conduct code). Is that "admirable work"? "His" code says in part: "Nominal compliance... is not enough to reach Maori TV's objective of high standards of integrity through consistent ethical practice.... Maori TV - and your - reputation depend upon it." (Integrity essential, says Davy code for staff)

His previous job in New Zealand was with an IT company called Intercom3000. Employees were taking money from their own bank accounts to try to keep the company afloat. By the time it went bankrupt, the owner had disappeared to Costa Rica. Davy described this stint on his CV as: "... just completed an interim assignment as CEO for Intercom3000.... My mandate was to realign the corporate structure, finance and auditing protocols and relocate the office to San Jose, Costa Rica.... Having successfully completed my mandate..." (Checks, lies and videotape - the John Davy saga)

I'm from Canada myself, so normally I'd be happy to see you defend the work of a Canadian. But...

 

MarkIsrael will hopefully read my other posts about John Davy.
Mark is obviously not aware that the NZ Herald newspaper mounted a major vendetta against John Davy and whilst he may well have 'borrowed' material for use in Maori TV, I know at the time that this material was considered to be a key ingredient to the (according to the staff working with him) successful work he performed whilst in the job. But Mark is perhaps a genius and has never referred to other sources for information or inspiration!
Perhaps Mark also thinks we should have jailed John Davy for life?
But as Dr Bear points out, there are many people in top positions throughout the world functioning perfectly well with questionable qualifications.

 

FNHayes writes:

> Mark is obviously not aware that the NZ Herald newspaper
> mounted a major vendetta against John Davy

OK, maybe I'm not aware of something. What did the NZ Herald do that was a departure from good investigative reporting? Or do you disapprove of investigative reporting in general, and would you dismiss Watergate by saying "The Washington Post mounted a major vendetta against Nixon"?

> (according to the staff working with him) successful work he
> performed whilst in the job.

Are the accounts by his staff somewhere on the Web? Or how did you come across them?

> But Mark is perhaps a genius and has never referred to other
> sources for information or inspiration!

Oh, I use sources so often I must be an idiot. But since reading about Stephen Ambrose, I have a new determination to acknowledge my sources.

> Perhaps Mark also thinks we should have jailed John Davy for
> life?

Jailed for life, no. But a criminal record is a criminal record, and you shouldn't suddenly start trusting a con man.

 

John Davy did not, as you put it, “borrow” material or refer to other sources for inspiration. Instead, he copied, word for word, entire corporate documents without authorization. This goes beyond plagiarism; it can only be categorized as outright theft.

Mr. Davy’s credentials cannot, however, be characterized as questionable. His credentials are fraudulent, as is the work he took for which he took credit. In other words, the man is a fraud and a con artist.

 

And if he were to add these questionable experiences and fraudulent credentials to his resume, he would be a "shoe-in" for the position of public relations manager for the Liberal Party of Canada!

 

John Davy

John Davy has certainly become infamous for his use of a bogus degree, but I'm pretty sure nobody here in 'paradise' would believe he is as infamous as Richard Nixon!
One thing I have learned about newspaper reporting is that you are treading on dangerous ground if you believe everything that appears in print, and the NZ Herald is renowned for often ignoring the real facts and promoting considerable emotive nonsense.
Regarding nonsense in newspapers, I well remember 'The Times' reporting word for word (many years ago) on a meeting which Premier Tsombe had with some other other prominent African politician. But the fact was that Tsombe never had that meeting - he was killed in a plane crash going to the meeting! 'The Times' reporter had seen Tsombe board the plane and had been given a resume on the meeting. In his haste to 'hit the headlines', he'd produced a very comprehensive report on the meeting. A report which also implied that the particular reporter was actually present at the meeting.
But I do agree with roysavia in respect of politicians - even in 'paradise' we had a 'Dr' elected to the NZ Parliament late last year. When questioned about his 'Doctorate' it was quickly discovered (by Wellington's 'Dominion Post' - a far superior paper the the 'NZHerald', which is really the 'Auckland Herald') that the 'Doctorate' was completely ficticious.

 

Re: John Davy

Nixon is well regarded these days. See http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.cfm?uc_full_date=19940510

FNHayes, I'm still waiting for your source about the staff who testified to his "successful work".

According to the link OxPecker provided, Davy wrote to the Globe and Mail: "The company [in Kabul, Afghanistan] I worked for [since being deported from New Zealand] employed a few New Zealand consultants and one of them recognized me from my time there. Even after helping this particular guy with a serious situation he told my boss about me and I was forced to resign my position."

So even if the staff you mention exist, their opinion must not be a unanimous one.

Mr Davy continues, "I paid my debt to that society and [New Zealanders] continue to put my family in peril. I hope God extracts his revenge."

Sorry, I just can't like people who believe in that kind of God.

 

Nice one Mark!

 

Re: John Davy

Concerning the coverage of John Davy’s actions, what, specifically, do you believe was nonsense, and what proof do you have of this?

 

John Davy

I believe that the vast majority of NZ'ers who followed the John Davy saga thought that it was all a lot of nonsense, particularly as it followed close on the heels of a previous Maori TV director purchasing a pair of underpants for many thousands of Maori TV dollars - and getting away with it! Not to mention his new BMW and a massively high expense account.
It was Derek Fox - a prominent Maori personality and Maori TV Director - who initially commented on the value John Davy was to Maori TV. A view which was initially well supported by many of
his colleagues.
A historic problem with the NZ Herald has been that they use a high number of 'would be journalist' on a regular 'feature' basis, particularly in the Herald's Saturday edition. Such people suddenly become 'experts' in a wide variety of areas and in my areas of wildlife management and firearms control such 'experts'
have mostly produced very poorly researched material. In two instances it was only when plans to lay of formal complaint with the NZ Press Council were discussed that the two would be journalist experts suddenly had their contracts terminated. The NZ Press Council being the 'watch-dog' over newspapers in 'paradise'.
However, the NZ Press Council is far from perfect as one formal complaint I was involved in - with a national shooting sports group - our complaint was rejected. But interestingly enough the Editor of the newspaper involved suddenly left town to take up
a much lower position elsewhere.

 

Derek Fox

Er, Derek Fox was the Chairman of the Board who hired and eventually fired Davy.

On 26 April 2002, Fox said about Davy's "MBA" from "the University of Denver": "I have a copy of the certificate that was issued in 1976. It's checked fine." ( http://onenews.nzoom.com/onenews_detail/0,1227,96651-1-7,00.html )

On 30 April 2002, Fox issued an official statement saying: "over the weekend the Board had received information indicating that Mr Davy had provided false information about his background. [...] Mr Davy was given until 5.00pm today to respond to questions put to him by the Board. No satisfactory response was received and his contract was formally terminated at this time."
( http://www.maoritelevision.com/mediareleases/details?releaseid=11 )

 

A few stories about Davy from today's papers:

Afghans Check Davy's CV

Conman Davy's reputation follows him to Afghanistan.

 

Davy told MTS to destroy CV

 

Is Derek Fox a liar as well?

"[...29 April 2002] the day before Mr Davy's forced resignation became public [...] Mr Davy [...] said he would then take out a $10 million libel suit against the New Zealand Herald, which exposed him." -- http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2380835a8153,00.html

"Davy [...] contacted by the Herald [in January 2003...] primarily blamed the Herald for causing his hardship. 'I may forget in time but I will never forgive,' he said." -- http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&storyID=3050349

"The chairman of the new Maori Television Service says his decision to fire chief executive John Davy yesterday after less than seven weeks in the job had nothing to do with a series of Herald reports questioning the man's credentials. Derek Fox, interviewed on National Radio today [30 April 2002...] 'No, not at all,' he responded."
-- http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&storyID=1842691&reportID=462584

Conclusion?

 

John Davy was most certainly persecuted by the NZ (Auckland) Herald and MarkIsrael continues to follow in the same vane.
As I attempted to show earlier, this particular newspaper really has little going for it and whilst it is extremely good at publishing its own version of events on its own website such reporting is invariably biased, emotive, subjective and incorrect - particularly in comparison to a number of 'real' quality newspapers in 'paradise'.

 

More accurate to say he was prosecuted by the NZ government, rather than persecuted by the media.

Which "real" quality newspapers portray him as anything other than what he is-- a convicted fraud artist?

 

Nobody in NZ will dispute that John Davy should have been removed from office, but most questioned the need for such obnoxious persecution, and prosecution.
No rapist, murderer or major criminal has ever been subjected to such persecution in NZ - before, during or after conviction. Had it not been for the NZ Herald John Davy would never have been prosecuted - or jailed - for what was nothing more than a minor infringement.
Besides using his bogus degree in his CV, John Davy's other major blunder was that he subjected his Maori colleagues - and those who selected him, who were also Maori - to public ridicule. As I mentioned previously, Maori TV has always suffered struggled to gain credibility and a scapegoat needed to be found!

 

FNHayes, are you so suggesting that there should be no penalty whatsoever for lying on one's résumé (otherwise known as "uttering a false document with intent to defraud")?

Please note that getting fired ("sacked" in Commonwealth English) after you get caught is no penalty whatsoever. A person who lies on his résumé, gets a job as a result, and gets fired after x months on the job is x months of salary better off than his counterpart who didn't lie and didn't get the job.

I grant you that Davy's punishment was unusual: there usually is no penalty for lying on one's résumé. But what is is not always what ought to be.