Another week and another charge of theft (shoplifting) by disgraced former Green Party MP, Golriz Ghahraman.
It’s likely there is more we don’t know about. One source in Ponsonby Road told us she felt she disturbed Ms Ghahraman in the attempt to steal goods from her store without paying, but was thwarted in the process.
Where is the Green Party in all of this ? Still no comment – what are they hiding?
Where is the Green Party in all of this ? Still no comment – what are they hiding?
This is very much a Green Party issue as they’ve known since October last year when the initial complaint was made.
The MSM, whilst happy to finally report on this 4th charge have simply just repeated the summary of facts as supplied by the NZ Police. Nothing more.
A quick check of the MSM sites that covered the story this week shows that the NZ Herald, Stuff , 1 News , RNZ, ODT, and the soon to be closed NewsHub have not even bothered to contact the Green Party for comment, as there is no mention of any of this in their stories – in fact all of these so called MSM players have just cut and pasted each others stories.
Why does the Green Party get a continued ‘leave pass’ on this issue from the MSM?
We wrote to Green Party Public Relations head, Danny Stevens, and asked the following questions …
1. When were you made aware of the latest charge the Police laid?
2. Why have you / Green Party not made a public statement about the 4th charge to the NZ public?
3. Are you aware of any further pending charges?
4. Is the Green Party or any associated members of the Green Party paying for, or assisting in paying the legal fees for Ms Ghaharman ? If so, how much?
5. Has the Green Party paid any of the retail stores back for the stolen items?
6. Has any Green Party MP attempted to interfere in the Police investigation when the first complaint was made back in October 2023? This includes making phone call(s) to the NZ Police making enquiries.
To date we have not had a reply.
The recent stories released about the progress in the case have caused a stir, and public anger is high, with so many asking why diversion is even an option, when clearly we have a recidivist thief who has zero care for those she steals from. Let alone the position of trust she had as an MP, and the huge tax payer salary that goes with it.
Diversion in our view would be judicial failure, and send a message to the public that shoplifting is ok.
We are of the view that diversion is often an easy ‘out’ for the Police to move quickly on from the case loads in the courts… in this case however, given the gravity, and multiple occasion deliberateness of the offending, it hardly seems appropriate or proportionate.
One also can’t forget of Ms Ghaharmans role as an MP, and despite being caught in October last year, her brazen offending escalated to over $10,000.00 in shoplifted items in the subsequent months until this blog broke the story to the NZ public, the Police finally acted.
In October 2023 it was estimated that retail crime (shoplifting) was costing retailers $1.3B per year – what sort of message would it send if Ms Ghaharman escaped a conviction and an appropriate sentence.
The next part of this story is not who was in Scotties Boutique, but which Green Party MP will need to explain their interactions with the NZ Police over this matter.
More to come …
