Former Otago District Health Board financial officer Ewan Soper yesterday confirmed he signed a $48,000 payment request for Sonnford Solutions Ltd in November 2000.
Mr Soper told the High Court in Dunedin during the three-week trial of Michael Swann and Kerry Harford that he first heard of the company in 2006.
The Otago Daily Times yesterday received a copy of a capital expenditure application signed by Mr Soper. The newspaper believes the document is genuine.
The two-page application, on Healthcare Otago-headed stationery, is dated November 1, 2000, and outlines an application for payment of $48,000 for a US software program to be installed in the hospital's three main computer servers so as to "dynamically allocate space for expansion without taking the system down".
The application reads in part: "The product is sold and supported by Sonnford Solutions Ltd in Wellington".
Mr Soper said yesterday: "I'm surprised that it's there and that it mentions Sonnford. I'm probably not surprised that I don't recall it . . . a few lines on a page in support of something".
He did not question the application's authenticity, saying "It is my signature".
He noted the application originally "may also" have included more information on quotes and pricing information.
"It appears from the front sheet to have gone through all the processes; being given an asset number," he said.
However, he believed there were some "inconsistencies", with the likelihood the application would have had further information attached.
He queried whether there were three computer servers in service at the hospital in late 2000.
While "surprised" at the application having surfaced, Mr Soper said when contacted, "No, I don't recall the document or any of the details on it. In fact I could honestly probably say I could not recall the text of any of the capital expenditure requests in my time," - which was from 1998 to 2003.
Swann, the former health board chief information officer, and his associate, Harford, are in jail awaiting sentencing after being found guilty last Friday of defrauding the ODHB of $16.9 million over six years to 2006.
Most of the money was channelled through the Harford-owned company, Sonnford Solutions Ltd, using 198 invoices.
Payments also went to Swann-controlled Computer South Ltd.
Whenever the existence of Sonnford Solutions was queried during the six years of fraud, Swann steered people away with explanations of the good job it was doing.
When asked if it was possible there were more applications or Sonnford invoices carrying his signature, Mr Soper said it was "impossible" to answer because of the volume of work over six years.
"If I can't remember, how can I possibly speculate?" Mr Soper said.
Mr Soper said the capital expenditure would have gone to a full hospital board meeting for approval and ratification.
Swann's legal counsel, John Haigh QC, said when contacted yesterday he did not have a copy of the application when Mr Soper gave evidence in court and Mr Soper was therefore not directly asked about his signature.
However, the application was later found among the more than 100,000 pages of discovered material by the time Swann gave evidence.
Swann confirmed in his evidence that he had "presented" the application to both the technical leader requesting the payment and to Mr Soper for approval, Mr Haigh said.
When he offered to give the Crown and Serious Fraud Office prosecutors a copy of the application, they already had their own, Mr Haigh said.
