A woman who ran an unregistered course that's left students with worthless qualifications is to face legal action.
As a result of a ONE News investigation the Genesis International College of Security is under the spotlight.
Maryanne Vaafasuaga, otherwise known as Maryanne McKenzie, ran the college that claimed to be accredited by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA).
NZQA chief executive Dr Karen Poutasi told ONE News that action is pending.
"It's an offence to issue a false qualification, those are false qualifications and NZQA will be taking action under the Education Act. It has no degree of acceptability whatsoever."
Not only did Vaafasuaga give out fake certificates to students, she also illegally photocopied materials for her course from other providers.
And Vaafasuaga has also given herself a fake qualification, and there's a glaring similarity between the fake certificate she's made out to herself and the fake certificates she gave out to the students.
Louise Darroch, lawyer at the Mangere Community Law Centre, told ONE News that the actions breached the law.
"The company has breached many, many aspects of New Zealand law."
But Vaafasuaga continues to deny she's done anything wrong, including when confronted by a ONE News' camera.
"I dont have a fake school, no," she said.
And speaking on the phone, Vaafasuaga rubbished the suggestion that NZQA had never heard of her.
"Thats bull because the guy& If you don't mind you can ring my lawyer."
But while the operator is to face legal action there's good news for students, who spent six months of their time and hundreds of dollars on a worthless course.
In a welcome turn of events, C4, a registered training provider, has offered them training free of charge.
"We have just had legislation passed where its now mandatory for security officers to undertake training, so we are trying to raise standards in the industry and here we are finding people are actually lowering them so we are happy to step in there," said Chris Lawton, C4 Group chief executive.
And the students spoken to by ONE News say they are happy to take C4 up on the offer.
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