Swann (48) appeared before Justice Chisholm in the High Court at Dunedin yesterday and pleaded guilty to one charge under the Secret Commissions Act.
The allegation was that, in his capacity as ODHB chief information officer, he corruptly received consideration of $755,153.89 from Sew Hoy between January 6, 2000, and September 11, 2006, as an inducement for favourable treatment in relation to the provision of help desk services to the board.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of two years' jail or a fine not exceeding $1000.
Swann was convicted and remanded in custody for sentencing on February 11 next year.
He is just over nine months into a nine-and-a-half-year prison sentence, with a minimum non-parole term of four years and three months, for defrauding the board of almost $17 million with another business associate.
Sew Hoy, who was sentenced to home detention after pleading guilty to paying a secret commission to Swann, had paid $325,000 reparation, Crown counsel Robin Bates told the court.
The Crown was seeking reparation of $430,153.89 from Swann.
The $755,153.89 from Sew Hoy was by way of 85 separate payments to Swann, the arrangement being that for every hour charged out at $95 plus GST for providing help desk services, Swann would receive $25.
Subsequent inquiries by a health board employee indicated the average hourly charge-out rate for similar services to other hospital boards at the time was about $56.
The payments to Swann were generally by cheques given to him personally, which were then banked into the account of Computer South Ltd, a company under his total control.
Before Swann was employed in 1998, board employees operated the help desk system "in-house", providing the various services required.
When the details of the Sew Hoy-Swann arrangement came to light in late 2006, the arrangement was terminated and the board made an immediate saving of about $500,000 a year by employing the same three people who had been providing the service on behalf of Sew Hoy, Mr Bates said.
Sew Hoy indicated there was no signed contract covering the arrangement but said Swann had given him a copy of a contract, although he was not asked to sign it.
The unsigned contract was found to be dated March 5, 2002, with an incorrect name on it.
It did not reflect the services provided by Sew Hoy, instead referring to the "millennium change of date requirements".
