• Former MP Golriz Ghahraman speaks for the first time about the ‘shopping incident’;
• After four months of investigation by a senior detective, police have made a decision on charges;
• Privacy Commissioner told by public of fears over high-tech private sector surveillance.

No charges will be laid against former MP Golriz Ghahraman after a shopping incident at an Auckland supermarket - a move that has prompted her first words on the claim.

Ghahraman told the Herald: “I’m relieved police have finally come to the right decision and happy to be moving on”

The police announcement comes less than a week after the shopping incident was made public and reported as a fresh shoplifting allegation against Ghahraman. Last year she pleaded guilty to four charges relating to shoplifting from high-end fashion stores, bringing to an end her career as an MP.

The Herald revealed Ghahraman had less than $150 worth of goods in a shopping trolley, or in a tote bag sitting in her trolley, and had yet to enter the checkout area when she was stopped by store security.

A statement from police today described the incident - over which there will no charges - as “shoplifting” and did not refer to it as an allegation.

It did reveal that the single item it considered “taken” was worth $40.

“The shoplifting occurred at the Pak N Save in Royal Oak on 12 October 2024, and was reported to Police for investigation electronically using the Auror platform,” police said.

Police had carried out inquiries and “a decision has been made to not file charges”.

The police statement said the case did not meet the Solicitor-General’s Guidelines for Prosecution around public interest “as well as taking other factors into account”.

The statement, which clearly referred to the incident involving Ghahraman, went on to say: “Given the subject of this complaint has not been charged with an offence, they are entitled to privacy and we are limited in further comment around a number of specifics.”

• Golriz Ghahraman shopping incident highlights police use of retail crime database
• Ghahraman reportedly seen putting items into tote bag at Pak’nSave
• What is 'loss-reactive shoplifting?' An expert explains
• Golriz Ghahraman arrives at court for sentencing on shoplifting charges
• New court document reveals details of Golriz Ghahraman's shoplifting

The incident was uploaded to the Auror retail crime reporting platform - but the supermarket did not check the box which reports matters to police.

It has raised questions about how police learned about the incident before trying to introduce it at Ghahraman’s unsuccessful High Court appeal in the following weeks.

In the wake of the Herald’s revelations, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner has now sought more information about the incident from police, Auror and Foodstuffs, which owns the Pak’n Save supermarkets.

In a statement, a spokesman said: “[The Office of the Privacy Commissioner] keeps a watching brief on data aggregation platforms like Auror that provide automated number plate recognition and CCTV surveillance services due to the high potential privacy risk.”

The spokesman said platforms such as Auror carried a risk around the accuracy of information entered into the platform, inappropriate access to that information, disclosure of information on the database and “the potential for significant adverse impacts to individuals”.

“The more personal data is brought together the greater the risk should a privacy breach – including employee browsing - occur. The Privacy Commissioner expects agencies providing or using these services to be able to provide assurance of their compliance with their legal obligations.”

It comes as the Office of the Privacy Commissioner prepares to issue a biometric code - a set of rules for the collection of personal identifying data such as images of a face, scans of an eyeball, how someone walks, audio recording.

The Commissioner’s office issued a draft code at the end of 2024 and was taking submissions through to March. It discerns between information considered biometric or not based on how the information is used - CCTV imagery of someone walking would not be unless it was used with a system that can analyse and identify people by their gait.

Of the 180 submissions received from the public, the Commissioner’s office said almost all showed “people were concerned about the use of biometrics in New Zealand”.

Concerns expressed were around surveillance, government use of biometrics and “private businesses using biometrics for commercial reasons at the expense of individual privacy”.

Ghahraman’s term as an MP for the Green Party came to an end with the revelation last year she had been charged with shoplifting clothing worth $8367 from three shops.

In an interview with TVNZ’s John Campbell after she pleaded guilty, Ghahraman said: “With time and processing, I can put it into the context of a long period of being in quite a dark place, and trying to be strong, constantly.

“Be strong, turn up, be strong. Feeling not strong. And then doing that spiral of, you’re not good enough. There is something wrong with you. Why aren’t you strong enough? The self-sabotage was to get out.”

She continues, “If I’d actually sat down and processed the fact that I needed to get out, I would have done things differently and that is my great regret.”

The Auror network is a software platform that connects retailers that are members and allows staff at those stores to enter and upload information and imagery linked to suspected retail crime events. The system is intended to match details with other incidents, identifying those shoplifting or committing other retail crime.

The system also offers retailers a “check box” to complain to police, with data showing around 80% of retail crime matters are now reported through Auror. It does not operate live facial recognition.

The company launched in 2012 and was recently valued at about $500 million by the Australian Financial Review with a huge uptake in Australia, where it boasts coverage of 50% of retail space, and in the United States, where it has secured contracts with some of the world’s biggest retail chains.

David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for 35 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He first joined the Herald in 2004.