The Lodge, pictured in 2004. Photo: No credit
A member of a wellness cult was responsible for a 2005 bomb threat that led to the evacuation of central Tauranga, RNZ's new investigative podcast The Lodge can reveal.
The 13-hour siege, which shut down several city blocks, was carried out by Jakob Slevec, a 57-year-old Slovenian.
Slevec had studied at the Phenomena Academy based at Takaro Lodge near Te Anau - a wellness cult run by Chinese guru Aiping Wang, the subject of an RNZ podcast currently being released.
The Guru - grandmaster - Aiping Wang. Photo: No credit
Today's episode reveals Slevec's links with the lodge. This connection has never been reported until now.
According to hotel receptionist Bronwin Pretorius, who sat with Slevec for hours in the conference room of the Devonport Hotel during the incident, the man claimed to be carrying explosives and demanded to speak with Helen Clark.
"He had a rucksack and wanted to speak to the Prime Minister. He said he had a bomb with him," Pretorius says in the podcast.
The Armed Offenders Squad and bomb squad were deployed, three city blocks were evacuated, and the siege lasted 13 hours before authorities moved in, arresting Slevec without serious injury. News reports at the time said the shutdown of central Tauranga cost businesses $500,000.
The episode reveals that Slevec was a student at Wang's Phenomena Academy and had been living at the lodge. He was one of 12 overseas followers facing deportation after New Zealand authorities had closed down Wang's teaching institution.
An interview with Aiping Wang in 2004. Photo: No credit
A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that "Jacob Slevec, the man with the backpack trying to get an audience with Helen Clark, had been living and studying at the lodge in Te Anau. Over four years he'd renewed his student visa multiple times".
Pretorius, who was pregnant at the time though unaware of it, described the experience as "quite surreal" but noted that Slevec "didn't come across as scary" and had "a very calm nature".
The following day in court, Slevec was charged with burglary, threatening to kill or cause grievous bodily harm, and was subsequently deported to Slovenia. Media coverage at the time made no mention of his connection to Wang's group.
Slevec's bag contained no explosives. His protest appears to have been related to his impending deportation back to Eastern Europe. While Slevec never revealed what he was hoping to achieve or wanting to ask of the Prime Minister, the Bay of Plenty Times in 2005 reported he "believed he had to commit a crime to be deported without having to pay for his airfare home".
Pretorius says, "I asked him what he was doing, why he was doing this, and he said that he pretty much, he was wanting to go back home". It was unclear whether by "home" he meant Slovenia or Te Anau.
Simona, an ex-follower. Photo: Internet image
The podcast reveals that Wang's Phenomena Academy had been set up in 2000 as a government-accredited teaching institute offering a three-year "diploma of life consultancy". Ex-followers say this accreditation enabled Wang to bring foreign followers to New Zealand on student visas.
Edi, an ex-follower. Photo: Internet image
Following a 2004 20/20 television documentary by this reporter, exposing questionable practices at the lodge, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) withdrew its accreditation.
"After the 20/20 doco came out, NZQA removed Aiping's right to teach and deported a dozen followers on student visas. Jacob Slevec, the Tauranga fake bomber, was one of them," I explain in the podcast.
Despite the deportations and loss of accreditation, it's believed Wang remained in New Zealand under a golden visa after purchasing the Lodge property for $2.1 million in 1998.
Caroline, an ex-follower. Photo: Internet image
The Lodge documents Wang's journey from Eastern Europe to New Zealand.
Ex-followers say she'd brought them to the southwest of the South Island because this was the best place to survive a world disaster.
Suzanne, an ex-follower. Photo: No credit
Once they arrived in Aotearoa, Wang's Phenomena Academy promised believers they would learn how to levitate, see the future, and be healed without medicine.
Warwick, an ex-follower Photo:
VIP believers were charged just under three quarters of a million dollars for life membership and access to the guru.
Aiping Wang in Eastern Europe pre-2000. Photo: Internet image
The Lodge examines the expansion of a wellness empire across multiple countries, raising questions about the oversight of alternative healing practices and their potential consequences.
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