By: Larry Williams | Thursday, April 26, 2012

Bridgecorp

Rod Petricevic gets six and a half years in jail for his part in the fraud.

This was a massive fraud when you consider that $459 million of investor’s money was fleeced. Some investors are now financially ruined.

Six and a half years for Petrecivic, and his lies and deception, is on the light side. He was guilty on 18 charges, many of which carried 10 years maximum.

He should have got a lot more, and he should have had any assets tucked away stripped. He deserves to be penniless.

He claims he's already penniless. I'm not so sure. I don't think many would buy into that.

Sadly, our justice system treats white collar criminals with leniency. It’s exactly why these con artists flirt with criminal activity in the first place. The lack of deterrent makes ripping off innocent folk attractive.

Elephant Death

The death of Dr Helen Schofield, crushed by an elephant, is just tragic. Clearly this small zoo, and the elephant Mila, were Dr Schofields love and life.

But it does beg the question: Why do we have elephants being held in captivity in some tin pot zoo in South Auckland?

I see no benefit for elephants that are caged in at all.

It looks more like a prison sentence.

OCR

The Reserve Banks keeps interest rates at 2.5%.

This was all predictable as was the Governors attempt to talk down the dollar.

The Governor is about to retire and there is a very adequate replacement waiting in the wings in the form of Green co leader Russell Norman.

Norman’s recipe for lowering the dollar is for quantitative easing. In other words, printing money. Brilliant!

SOE Sales

It is true that the select committee hearing submissions on the part sell down of the SOE's is a waste of time.

It’s semantics. The deal is done. The sales will proceed. Nothing in the submissions will change that.

Ngati Porou are a bit of a trick. They oppose the sales, but they want a slice of the action.

Indeed, they want the 10% cap lifted so iwi can take more of a stake.

But remember, they really are against the sales.

Breakers

The Breakers delivered. It really could've gone either way but the Breakers hung in there and closed the game out in the last five minutes or so.

Two titles in a row is a fantastic effort, and there is no question that the team’s culture and values play a major part in their success.

The club has developed a brand that other sports franchises might like to follow.