Not the same

The Herald reports:

The man who faked his CV to become the first boss of Maori Television believes his sentence was harsh compared with what has since happened to a public servant who falsified her CV.

Canadian John Davy served three months in jail in 2002 for falsely claiming he held a master of business administration degree, had worked for international organisations such as World Wildlife Fund and was a national fencing champion.

At his sentencing, Judge Phil Moran said Davy – who was caught out after a Herald investigation – was a “conman” and there was a clear need to send a message to others who might be tempted to do the same.

In March, Judge Bruce Davidson sentenced former Immigration Service boss Mary Anne Thompson to 100 hours of community service and fined her $10,000 for falsely claiming she had a doctorate from the London School of Economics.

The two cases are not the same.

Mary-Anne Thompson did falsely claim she had a PhD. But she has in fact spent several years studying towards one, and the claim of a PhD was not crucial to her getting the jobs she gained.

Davy was, as the Judge noted, a con-man. His CV was a piece of fiction with numerous fake entries and employers listed he had never worked for. His offending was clearly of a more serious nature than Thompson’s and the sentence reflected that,

Davy would never have been appointed CEO on the basis of his true CV. Thompson would have been appointed to the jobs she held, if she had omitted the claimed PhD.