4 April 2011
The Tongan Supreme Court has sentenced the officials convicted last week for the parts they played in the mismanagement of the Princess Ashika. Seventy four people drowned when the unseaworthy ferry sank. Findings of an inquiry into the sinking and the subsequent trial of some of those involved, exemplify the importance of officials acting with integrity. This is expressed in the New Zealand Cabinet Manual direction that those working in the State sector must be fair, impartial, responsible and trustworthy .
3.50 Employees in the state sector must act with a spirit of service to the community and meet high standards of integrity and conduct in everything they do. In particular, employees must be fair, impartial, responsible, and trustworthy.
The Tongan Court has found that those principles of public service were sadly lacking among key actors in the Princess Ashika saga.
The report last week of fraud within the Ministry of Social Development indicates that no agency can rest on its laurels. Over the last five years, 13 employees have either lied to procure welfare payments or deliberately defrauded the system from within. Some consolation is that, in an agency which is rigorous in its scrutiny of practices, fraud was only committed by a tenth of 1 per cent of staff. Most have a commitment to being fair, impartial, responsible and trustworthy.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/4839715/Kiwi-guilty-of-manslaughter-in-Ashika-disaster
http://www.cabinetmanual.cabinetoffice.govt.nz/3.50
www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/4839741/WINZ-unit-fails-to-stop-staff-fraud
Integrity Talking Points 
At the inquiry into the sinking of the Princess Ashika, Lord Ramsey Dalgety the Company Secretary for the Shipping Corporation of Polynesia Ltd said he was a member of the Appointment Committee that hired New Zealander John Jonesse as its CEO.
It was Jonesse who purchased the ferry in Fiji despite the fact that he had no shipping experience
Dalgety testified that Jonesse never provided any employment references to him and that he never asked for any. Dalgety was unaware that Jonesse went by a different surname in New Zealand.
As this case shows, failure to follow due diligence in the hiring and appointment process by verifying a candidate’s background, can have tragic consequences.