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Labtests Auckland is to fight a High Court ruling invalidating its eight-year, $560 million deal to provide pathology services throughout Auckland - but will do so without Tony Bierre, the man instrumental in winning the contract.
Australian company Healthscope announced yesterday that it had bought out Dr Bierre and business partner Lee Mathias, who had a combined 22 per cent stake.
It has also laid off around 80 of the 126 staff Labtests had hired so far.
Healthscope's managing director, Bruce Dixon, said Dr Bierre had decided to resign as chief executive and a company director to remove the "politicisation" of the project.
"Tony thought it was far cleaner that he wasn't involved, given how it's gone, rightly or wrongly. He's really just taken this [decision] to stop this being politicised. It's got out of hand.
"People have forgotten that we were actually delivering a $15 million-a-year saving to the community, but no one talks about that. There's all this Tony Bierre this and Tony Bierre that but I think he's been the total scapegoat in this whole process."
Dr Bierre would be leaving to pursue "other opportunities", although Mr Dixon did not know what those were. Dr Bierre did not return calls from the Herald last night.
The firm's lawyers yesterday filed appeal papers with the Court of Appeal seeking to have the decision overturned and the contract reinstated.
Mr Dixon said the company believed the judge had made several serious errors, including incorrectly finding that Dr Bierre had access to and misused confidential information.
He said Dr Bierre and the health boards had handled the conflict of interest appropriately and the tender process was more rigorous than in Australia. "We have never before had Audit Office attendance in Australia at tender meetings or assurances from a Crown entity of Audit Office sign-off.
"We do not believe that Dr Bierre had any knowledge that would help us to prepare a tender with any advantage over anyone else."
Mr Dixon said Dr Bierre had no involvement in the pricing of the contract, which had been based on Healthscope's lab in Clayton, Victoria.
"We did it from Australia - which would be normal process anyway, because Tony's expertise is in pathology, not costing."
Healthscope has invested $18 million in the Auckland contract, including setting up its Mt Wellington lab. But of 126 staff, only 12 remain.
Apart from the 80 made redundant, others have been redeployed to Healthscope's other projects in Northland and Australia.
The company has an eight-year-lease on the Carbine Rd site and plans to complete the fit-out. Mr Dixon said it was here to stay.
"We're determined to win this contract. This would have been the beach-head for us. It would have given us the base to establish a large business."
