The senior Defence Force official exposed by 60
Minutes last night has resigned.
Stephen Wilce, the Chief Defence Scientist, fell on his sword this morning in
the wake of our programme, according to Defence Chief Jerry Mateparae.
Our undercover investigation showed he was a CV cheat and liar who had made
wild claims about being an Olympian and having a distinguished combat career.
He was hired by the NZDF despite having been pushed out of a series of jobs.
60 Minutes reporter Paula Penfold went undercover to expose his lies. Armed
with what he’d told her, 60 Minutes was able to check his employment history
going back 20 years.
Our programme revealed:
- how Wilce claimed to have been a member of the British Olympic bobsleigh team
in the 1980s. No one from the team or the British Bobsleigh Association had
ever heard of him.
- Despite his claims to have been a Royal Marine, no record of him ever having
been so exists. No evidence supports his claims to have been decorated in
battle either.
- Despite what he said on his CV, his employment history going back to 1990 is
far from impressive with previous employers concerned about his dishonesty and
lack of performance.
- He vanished from one chief executive role after being challenged about the
veracity of his background.
- Immediately before rising to his current job leading 80 people, he was chief
executive of a small Australian housing company in charge of about 10 people.
They jokingly called him a rocket scientist because of what he’d told them
about his past.
The official solely represents New Zealand on a strategic international defence
committee.
His resignation this morning is not a surprising development, but neither
should it be the end of the matter.
Questions remain about how he was hired in the first place and why internal
concerns about him were not acted upon.
We’re continuing to investigate the story.