Davy deported after serving fraud sentence

By LOUISA CLEAVE

John Davy emerged from the police car at Auckland Airport and adjusted his suit jacket - keeping up appearances to the end.

He had been released an hour earlier from prison after serving three months of a six-month sentence for fraud.

The former head of the Maori Television Service won the job with a fabricated CV which included a fake Master of Business Administration obtained through the internet.

Passengers on last night's United Airlines flight to Los Angeles would never have picked him for an ex-convict being deported to his homeland.

Davy was escorted back to Canada by two plainclothes police officers because of airline policy.

The total travel bill, paid by the Immigration Service, would be around $8,500.

Davy arrived at the airport police station mid-afternoon carrying an Overland shoe store plastic bag.

His personal belongings, which had been looked after by friends, arrived later packed in two suitcases and a carry bag.

Davy said his time in prison had forced him to "take a different look at my life" and he would do things "the right way" in future.

Asked what he had learned from the experience, Davy said: "You learn a lot, but I think you learn more about yourself because you've got more time to think about yourself and you've got more time to think about what you've done, and how it affects not only yourself but the family. How it affects other people.

"I'm sort of happy to have a second chance in life to move forward in a better way."

It was the final chapter in the scandal which broke in April after a Herald investigation into the self-proclaimed international businessman.

Davy claimed links to international business groups and roles with organisations such as the World Wildlife Fund, and said he was a national fencing champion.

When the Herald exposed the lies, Davy said parts of his academic and financial records had been changed but claimed it was because he undertook a "forensic" assignment for a group of companies in the 1980s in which a substantial sum of money was recovered.

Government officials made inquiries and the Maori Television Service dismissed Davy and laid a complaint with police.

Davy admitted his CV was a lie and was sentenced to eight months' prison, reduced to six months after an appeal.

He washed pots and made sandwiches in the prison kitchen, according to his wife, Josephine.

Detective Sergeant Richard Chambers, one of the officers who investigated the CV fraud, believes Davy has learned his lesson.

He said Davy was adamant he would not make the same mistake again.

"He did say a number of times [in the car ride to the airport] that he had learned a good lesson," Mr Chambers said.

Davy is positive about the future, despite turning 52 next month and facing the prospect of starting his working life over again from scratch.

"I think he appreciates the value of family and is not so worried about career prospects," said Mr Chambers.

Davy's final destination is Ottawa, but it seems he does not plan to stay there for long.

He told police he would move to the Philippines as soon as possible to be with his wife, Josephine, and her teenage children.

Insolvency records showed he became a bankrupt in 1980 while living in Ottawa, and had a second judgment against him 13 years later in Whistler, British Columbia.

He is still technically bankrupt because he received only a conditional discharge on the second bankruptcy.

However, it is understood Canadian authorities have no interest in pursuing Davy for the old debts when he returns.

In New Zealand, the Government's chances of recovering the more than $80,000 Davy owes from a salary advance and costs associated with hiring him also appear slim.

Full coverage: Maori TV