Don't forget Due Diligence before paying for courses!!! A disgrace to the industry

Man behind bodyguard camp to pay up




A man behind an Auckland bodyguard training camp who misled his former students is promising to pay them back today.

Elite Protection International has shut down amid accusations it misled its trainees who had been expecting well-paid jobs in Russia.

It claimed to have a Unicef bodyguard contract, and trained 31 people at its base in a holiday camp on the North Shore.

It was run by Wes Jawad and some people paid up to $5,000 for the camp. He told trainees they would get employment in Russia at the end of the course.

However, in an email to ONE News Pacific Correspondent Barbara Dreaver, Unicef said it is "absolutely untrue" that it had a contract with Jawad's business.

The charity is actually pulling out of Russia in the next few weeks and does not supply security for orphanages.

Jawad had brought in course trainer, Mike Quinton, who runs a British company specialising in close protection training, to teach at the camp. He said he quickly realised something was not right.

"Alarm bells started ringing within two weeks of being here, it just got louder as the days went on," he told ONE News.

Video footage of the trainees shows them using look-a-like handguns at the holiday camp base, prompting two call-outs by the armed offenders squad.

"This is not a training facility, the people that we are training at the moment are going out to do armed roles in a foreign country where there's a real threat. They have no weapons experience," Quinton said.

The British expert was paid a deposit and promised the rest of his money once Unicef had paid up. He is still waiting to be paid.

Trainees are also demanding their money back.

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"We have people who have sold their houses and put everything into storage on the premise of leaving for Russia on the 22nd of December," said Quinton.

When questioned in front of ONE News cameras Jawad told the trainees he had wanted to take them to Russia, and has promised he will pay them back their training fee today.

This guy is not alone. There are plenty out there. Problem is that you cannot protect people against themselves. I was recently asked by some students about a French company who had promised them work if they took one of their courses. I warned that I knew of the company and the woman behind and that it was a scam. Did they listen? No they did not.

what was the name of the company?