KEY POINTS:
A taxpayer-funded training college has collapsed, leaving questions over whether money paid to train teacher aides was instead used to help build a $30 million property empire.
The collapse of the eight Case Boreham Associates campuses has also raised questions about the involvement of a New Age guru at the centre of the business - a man who is said to be able to work "magic".
The closure has meant more than 120 students have been dumped from courses. It is the latest business collapse for director Robyn Case, who has also had three related companies go into liquidation.
Company liquidator Dennis Wood, of McDonald Vague, has raised serious questions over the company and its use of $1.2 million a year in taxpayers' funds and has also questioned the involvement of Shane Wenzel.
Wenzel is a self-styled life coach - but also a bankrupt, meaning he is banned from being involved in the management of any business. He is awaiting judgment in an Insolvency Office prosecution which alleges he was running a business while a bankrupt. He has denied the charge and a judgment on the case is expected at the end of the month.
Wenzel has also denied charges by the Serious Fraud Office, stemming from his activities with some of the companies linked to Case Boreham Associates. Seventeen charges relate to property deals, in which Wenzel is accused of dishonestly using a document or being party to dishonestly using a document.
He faces an additional charge of using a document to defraud, which he has also denied. Depositions for the case are due in the Papakura District Court in late July.
CBA is one of about 100 connected companies, some of which are involved in property transactions discovered by the Herald on Sunday. Those companies have owned, or handled, about 50 properties with government valuations ranging from $60,000 to $1.2m. Former staff have estimated the portfolio's value at around $30m. Those spoken to by the Herald on Sunday insist that Wenzel controls the group of almost 100 companies run by Robyn Case and co-workers Dianna Bongard and Jose Barnes.
Wenzel has denied the claim, as have Case, Bongard and Barnes. Instead they describe him as their coach for "spiritual, mental, emotional and physical growth".
Case said Wenzel taught "ancient knowledge" and could work "magic".
She told the Herald on Sunday: "I suffered from an incurable disease, not life-threatening but very debilitating. Through Shane's teachings I am cured."
CBA was placed into liquidation in February. As liquidators study available accounts for CBA, the Herald on Sunday has found:
* Claims by the liquidators that government funding has been used in loans to related companies with no expectation the money would be paid back;
* Claims an associated company filed large GST claims it was not entitled to;
* That company records are missing in two liquidations involving Case.
Case has made strenuous efforts to have the decision to liquidate CBA reversed.
A hearing is scheduled later this month in the High Court at Auckland to investigate Case's claim.
The liquidators have tried to gain the court's permission to question Case, Wenzel and others associated with the company.
High Court judge Helen Winkelmann reported on affidavits filed by liquidator Dennis Wood, listing concerns including "deletion of data of company servers and removal of company records".
The judgment also highlighted concerns over "the application of government education funding sourced from the Tertiary Education Commission". Winkelmann stated she had received a deposition that "a significant portion of government funding received by the company has been employed by means of loans to entities within the group of companies of which the company is a member".
Winkelmann questioned why Case had not backed up explanations for the lack of company records with sworn statements. She said "persistent failure" cast "serious doubt on the credibility of these explanations".
In his latest liquidation report on CBA, filed with the Companies Office on Friday, Wood stated: "Funding provided by the Tertiary Education Commission has been diverted to other companies without adequate documentation, security or reasonable expectation of repayment."
Case told the Herald on Sunday that the liquidation was part of a wider conspiracy by the liquidators to bring her down. She offered no reason for the conspiracy except that she was going to "expose" the liquidators as "cowboys".
"All money was spent on student education," she said. "Provide me with evidence to the contrary."
Teacher of 'ancient knowledge' and 'magic'
Shane Wenzel is determined to distance himself from management.
"I'm a coach," he says, "nothing more." He is pacing in front of a board, pen in hand, drawing triangles, squares and circles. This is how Wenzel, 45, sees life: through phrases like "creating solutions".
He paces and jabs with the pen. "It's about perception," he says. "If I ask you to share an apple with me, would you? Let's debrief that. You thought I meant apple the fruit? I meant Apple the computer."
He smiles at his point: that all is not what it seems.
Wenzel is facing questions from many quarters - from the Serious Fraud Office, the Insolvency Office and liquidators of private training business Case Boreham Associates.
Again, he says, it is perception. The Serious Fraud Office perceives that he has "hydraulicked" property, says Wenzel, artificially inflating the price to sell on. He denies this, he says, because he has a different perception. Like the insolvency case: "I have my perception, but I'm at the mercy of the judge's perception.
"If you don't come out and speak, then everyone criticises. But how do I come out and speak when I speak a different language?"
Wenzel would have you believe only those who speak his language will understand him.
Robyn Case, director of Case Boreham Associates, is one of those who says she does. She says Wenzel taught her to change her mindset, curing an incurable and debilitating disease.
Jose Barnes, who also runs companies out of Case's Takanini base, backs her. She says Wenzel helped her make "huge learnings" and "at the end of each small journey and change, I have experienced personal breakthroughs that have been like the sun breaking through on a rainy day".
Dianna Bongard, another director, also defends him. But former staff say Wenzel's influence is so compelling that it was a relief to get away.
A Tauranga woman who didn't want to be named was a former manager in the business. She said work days started with two-hour seminars at the rear of the office, during which Wenzel would "teach" his beliefs to Barnes, Bongard, Case and other staff. For remote staff, the lessons would take place three nights a week on three-hour teleconferences.
Michelle King, from Henderson, Auckland, encountered Wenzel at a "get rich" seminar he was running. "Shane was standing there saying, 'Do you want to leave something for your kids?'."
During her time at the company, King said she had no doubt Wenzel was in charge. "He's the boss. Even Robyn answers to him."
The speeches given were "repetitive" and left King feeling as if Wenzel's way was the only way.
She remembered working long nights - "I was crying and saying I needed to get home to my children."
One North Shore investor and former staff member who would not be named says it was the appeal of Wenzel's "get rich quick" scheme that led to her losing $44,000.
She wanted to turn it into $60,000 so she could buy a home to live in with her three children. "I wanted to get more for the kids."
The money was supposed to be used to invest in property, with her getting half the GST claimed for purchasing the house. She paid the money over and went to work for the business.
Eventually, she confronted Wenzel and demanded her money back. He wrote out a cheque for the full amount and gave it to her. The cheque bounced. She got on with life: "I can't sit around and cry forever."
What the audits found
Audits of Case Boreham Associates show deep-seated problems - but not enough to cost the private training body its registration or access to taxpayer money.
An audit of CBA and its eight campuses across the country highlight flaws with the body which received about $1.2 million in taxpayer money each year.
The 2006 "Quality Audit Report" found the institution failed to meet standards for governance, management, staff, teaching resources, student information and support, and the delivery and development of the programmes it is meant to teach.
The problems have prompted National education spokeswoman Katherine Rich to call for a review of procedures at the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and Tertiary Education Commission. "What does it take for the TEC to pull funding or for NZQA to cancel registration?" she asked.
TEC and NZQA have defended their right to register and fund CBA a fortnight beyond its collapse.
In a written statement, TEC said: "The quality audits conducted by the NZQA found no grounds for cancellation of registration, although it has increased its monitoring by a shortened audit cycle (less than one year). TEC's financial viability assessments also found no issues that would stop TEC funding the provider."
A separate statement from NZQA stated: "For de-registration to be justified there must be a history of significant non-compliance leading to serious impacts on the outcomes for learners."
Before NZQA cancelled registration of the body and TEC pulled the funding, CBA had already drawn down $78,000 to teach students in 2007. Most of the money had been spent when liquidators moved in in February.
The NZQA quality audit, which led to the school being allowed to continue running courses, found recurring management problems, including keeping proper records of student progress.
It was critical of "systemic personnel issues" which went back to 2004. High staff turnover and poor tutor performance continued.
The training institute had also failed to check whether students could speak English and had no way of testing this.
The audit was highly critical of the course delivery, stating that students complained that tutors didn't know the course material, couldn't answer questions relating to teacher-aide training and were disruptive because they left at short notice.
