Also lacking credibility are most of the claims made by Benedict Ong in his Mayoral campaign speeches where his credential claims were so outlandish and vacuous that I had written him off as completely un-electable despite his extensive advertising, especially in the ODT.
When it appeared that Mr. Ong had provisionally won a Council seat I did some source checking on google, then Perplexity AI, then his website and finally his claim of now being a Dunedin resident.
None of his claims were able to be verified by independent sources, world-wide as follows:

Google:

“Meet Ben – BENEDICT ONG

benedict ong

https://www.benong.nz › meet-ben

I held Vice President and Associate Director roles at leading global banks – Royal Bank of Canada, Rabobank International, UOB Bank and Bank Sarasin–Rabo …

Missing: records ‎independent ‎online ‎sources ‎state

Home – BENEDICT ONG

benedict ong

https://www.benong.nz

In my former international banking career in Singapore, I was Vice President and Associate Director for leading global banks from Canada, Switzerland, the …

Missing: there ‎There ‎records ‎independent ‎online ‎sources ‎state“




AI Perplexity searches have found no independent records anywhere of Mr Ong’s claims to have been Vice-President or having senior roles in any of Rabobank International, Royal Bank of Canada, UOB, and Bank Sarasin-Rabo Asia as he has repeatedly claimed during Mayoral candidate meetings.

I have done several AI searches of all world information available from AI search engine Perplexity [but no doubt Grok and Chat GPT will be similar] and this is one of the specific  questions I asked and the result:

Are there any independent source records showing that Benedict Ong was Vice president of Rabobank International, Royal Bank of Canada, UOB, and Bank Sarasin-Rabo Asia?

There are records from independent online sources that state Benedict Ong held Vice President and Associate Director roles at Rabobank International, Royal Bank of Canada, UOB Bank, and Bank Sarasin-Rabo Asia, with all roles based in Singapore. These records appear on his official campaign and biographical pages, which outline his former banking career and experience. However, none of these records are primary third-party sources such as official company press releases, news articles from major outlets, or authoritative regulatory disclosures. The information available is based on personal claims and biographical summaries shown on independent platforms and his campaign websites, and does not include corroboration from the banks themselves or major independent industry publications.

Further Perplexity search on Ong’s residence claimed to be in Dunedin “Property Ownership and Addresses

• No publicly available or disclosed information on ownership of property in New Zealand.
• No publicly disclosed current residential address beyond the declaration that his principal residence is outside the Dunedin City Council area.
  
  Benedict Ong’s Google page is unavailable with the message that it is temporarily closed for maintenance.
  

This Benedict Ong site has been in maintenance mode all this week so far.

Independent Information

• Benedict Ong’s education credentials (Bachelor of Commerce in Finance, University of New South Wales) are independently listed in Dunedin City Council and official candidate profiles, consistent across multiple sources.​
• His candidacy statements and biographical sites repeatedly mention senior roles held at global banks, listing Rabobank International, Royal Bank of Canada, UOB, and Bank Sarasin-Rabo Asia as workplaces in Singapore; these are consistent with job titles (Vice President, Associate Director) detailed on official venues beyond his self-published claims.​
• No independent employment verification or third-party reporting (such as press releases, regulatory filings, or corporate HR records) are publicly available beyond these campaign and certification sources.​

What Remains Self-Attested

• All specific role details (responsibilities, projects, deal sizes, duration in roles) are based only on his own statements and campaign material.​
• There is no direct evidence (like third-party employment history, media interviews specific to his transaction leadership, or international news coverage of banking activities directly attributed to him) to independently verify the scope of jobs or experiences beyond general campaign or web biographies.​

Conclusion

His qualifications (education and former employment at major banks in influential roles) and candidacy for Dunedin Council and Mayor are independently stated and publicly acknowledged in official profiles, but the specifics of his international banking experience are only self-attested, with no third-party independently verifiable documentation evident in public records.​

Other concerns relating to Mr Ong’s behaviour have been appearing on social media e.g. on Cr Mayhem’s FaceBook page, and reported to me by other fellow Councillors.