Former Immigration Service boss Mary Anne Thompson has been fined $10,000 and ordered to do community service for falsifying her CV by claiming she had a doctorate.

The sentence was expected after a sentencing indication hearing in February when Wellington District Court judge Bruce Davidson indicated the outcome. He also gave her 100 hours of community work.

Thompson, 54, of Karori, had pleaded guilty to one charge of using a document fraudulently after hearing the likely sentence and today came to court for it to be imposed.

She had originally faced three charges but it was reduced to one. Thompson's CV showed she had a doctorate from the London School of Economics.

She had enrolled at LSE to do a masters course. She had submitted a draft thesis in 1989 which was considered inadequate for doctoral level but above the level needed for a Masters. However she never did the required oral examination or received a doctorate.

Over 15 years she got two positions, first with the Maori Affairs Ministry and with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in 1998 after claiming the doctorate.

Judge Davidson said at the sentencing indication hearing that there was nothing to suggest she would not have got those jobs or that she could not do the work. "In fact the contrary seems to be the case, she worked and served the New Zealand public extremely well." He said her career prospects in public service now looked bleak and there was a significant loss to her reputation.

Her plea prevented a trial that would have seen a who's who of Wellington bureaucrats coming to give evidence against her, like Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard and chairman Arthur Grimes, former State Services commissioners Michael Wintringham and Mark Prebble, and New Zealand's high commissioner to Malaysia, David Kersey.

(Source Christchurch Press)