Thompson pleads guilty

The Dom Post reports:

Former Immigration Service boss Mary Anne Thompson has pleaded guilty to using her CV fraudulently, enabling her to get senior government positions.

Thompson, 54, of Karori, had claimed she had a doctorate from the London School of Economics.

In Wellington District Court this afternoon, Judge Bruce Davidson gave a sentencing indication that Thompson would be fined $10,000 and given 100 hours’ community work.

She pleaded guilty before trial, in a deal that saw the three charges she faced reduced to one.

In a way it is a pity there is no trial, because I was interested to hear how this all happened – ie what led Thompson to claim she had a Doctorate. Now we may never know.

While Thompson did not perform at Immigration, she was highly regarded in her former roles at Treasury and DPMC. The whole affair has been quite strange.