Fake engineer found guilty Monday, 18 August 2014

by Patrick Durrant

A 66-year old New Zealand man referred to Australian Federal Police by Engineers Australia in 2012 for misrepresentation has confessed to using a stolen identity and falsified credentials to pursue a lengthy and prolific engineering career.

Gerald Shirtcliffe, currently a resident of Victoria Point near Brisbane, appeared before the Queensland Magistrates Court on 12 June to plead guilty to 146 charges related to the performance of engineering work in both Australia and New Zealand using counterfeit qualifications. This has raised grave concerns about the safety of the many projects in which he participated.

These charges included making “false and misleading” statements to the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland (BPEQ), as well as performing engineering work without being a registered professional.

It was noted by the magistrate that while Mr Shirtcliffe was registered as a Registered Professional Engineer Queensland (RPEQ) called William Fisher he carried out “significant and complicated professional engineering services with respect to large coal projects, mining projects and civil infrastructure projects. Any deficiency in the engineering calculations could have very serious consequences in terms of injury to persons, damage to property and failure of the projects concerned.”

The magistrate imposed a penalty of $500,000 and $20,000 for legal costs.

According to reports, Shirtcliffe also served as supervisor for the construction of the CTV building in Christchurch, which collapsed during the February 2011 earthquake causing the deaths of 115 people. The counterfeit engineer was included in the New Zealand Royal Commission into the Christchurch earthquake due to his prominent role in the project, and was investigated by New Zealand police for use of a stolen identity.

The Queensland Magistrates Court has established that Shirtcliffe’s history of counterfeiting qualifications and credentials extends back for more than four decades.

Shirtcliffe’s fraudulent career began in 1969, when he stole the university degree of his then flatmate and colleague, English engineer William Fisher, during a work stint in Africa.

In 1973 Shirtcliffe successfully applied to a masters program at the University of New South Wales using the stolen document, and in March 2000 commenced a career as a registered engineer in Queensland using Fisher’s identity.

In a written affidavit Fisher said that he had shared a flat with Shirtcliffe for just six months in 1969, while they were colleagues for engineering firm Van Niekirk, Kleyn and Edward in Pretoria, but that he hadn’t seen him since then.

Engineers Australia cancelled Shirtcliffe’s registration in 2012 after BPEQ launched an investigation prompted by media reports concerning his role as supervisor for the CTV building. According to BPEQ, UNSW revoked his Master of Engineering Science in Highway Engineering in November of the same year.

A joint statement of facts agreed upon by both Shirtcliffe and BPEQ which was submitted to the Magistrates Court called his offences “the most serious kind that one may contemplate against the (Professional Engineers Act Queensland).”

Caption: Japanese rescue workers on the site of the collapsed CTV building in Christchurch, after the earthquake in 2011. Shirtcliffe’s involvement in the construction of the building was investigated by the NZ Royal Commission into the earthquake. Photo: CC Flickr greenfluoro bit.ly/1qiocrr