The Otago District Health Board confirmed yesterday it will lodge an insurance claim for losses incurred as a result of a multimillion-dollar fraud by a former employee and his friend, but cannot say when the claim will be made.
Minister of Health Tony Ryall has called for urgent confirmation that systems have been put in place at district health boards throughout the country to prevent fraud.
The Otago District Health Board has rejected speculation its legal costs for the $16.9 million fraud trial which ended in two convictions last Friday will be more than $3 million.
Michael Swann and his friend, Kerry Harford, were last night found guilty of defrauding Swann's former employer, the Otago District Health Board, of $16.9 million, in what is believed to be the largest employee fraud case to have come before a New Zealand court.
Events in the saga played out over more than a decade are detailed below:
Evidence in the trial of two men accused of misappropriating almost $17 million from the Otago District Health Board is likely to be completed in the High Court in Dunedin tomorrow.
Dunedin man Michael Swann has begun giving evidence in his High Court jury trial for alleged multi-million dollar fraud against the Otago District Health Board while he was its chief information officer.
Former Otago Health Board chief information officer Michael Swann has told a High Court jury today he considered $16 million the board paid for IT-related services between 2000 and 2006 was "entirely appropriate".
The man accused of setting up a computer-related risk-mitigation insurance scheme which cost the Otago District Health Board $16.9 million over six years agreed yesterday in the High Court at Dunedin the words "risk mitigation" and "insurance cover" did not appear in any of the 16 contracts he signed between the board and a friend's company.
The Crown has told a Dunedin High Court jury that two men who charged the Otago District Health Board $16.9 million for computer-related services were well aware what they were doing was dishonest.
All Michael Swann told the truth about during two days in the witness box was his name, his boats and his cars, Crown counsel Robin Bates told a High Court jury in Dunedin yesterday, but Swann's lawyer, John Haigh QC, suggested the fact Swann's business acumen might have been abysmal was not proof of criminal guilt.
A Dunedin High Court jury has resumed deliberations in the trial of two men accused of misappropriating almost $17 million from the Otago District Health Board.
The man accused of costing the Otago District Health Board almost $17 million for computer-related risk mitigation insurance which the Crown says provided nothing, has denied dealing dishonestly or fraudulently with the board at any time during the six years the insurance scheme was in place.
Former district health board chief information officer Michael Swann has spent the day explaining to the High Court the rationale behind invoices charging the board almost $17 million for services the Crown says were never provided.
A man whose company charged the Otago District Health Board millions of dollars over six years was acting as a "buffer" so the board would not realise 90% of the money paid to the company was ending up with one of the board's own employees, chief information officer Michael Swann, a court has heard.
Michael Swann's wife never questioned where her husband got the money to fund his passion for cars or interest in boats, a Dunedin High Court jury heard yesterday.
In a career spanning 20 years, an IBM assistant support engineer had never seen a system as large as the Otago District Health Board's which was not under a maintenance contract, the High Court at Dunedin heard yesterday.
Dunedin hospital's IT technical administration team have told the High Court this morning they never saw any outside contractors working on the hospital servers, and knew of no association or maintenance contracts with companies called Sonnford Solutions or Computer South.
Contracts signed by Michael Swann for a company to provide the Otago District Health Board with computer software licences and maintenance for Dunedin Hospital servers were "very irregular", the board's CEO Brian Rousseau told a high court jury in Dunedin today.
The company which charged the Otago District Health Board $16.9 million for computer-related services was discussed by senior managers looking at cost savings because it appeared on a list of top 10 suppliers, a Dunedin High Court jury heard yesterday.
