Dr Nigel Murray's lawyers want information from Waikato District Health Board relating to the former chief executive. Photo / Christine Cornege
Dr Nigel Murray's lawyers want information from Waikato District Health Board relating to the former chief executive. Photo / Christine Cornege
Lawyers acting for embattled former health board boss Dr Nigel Murray are engaged in an information gathering campaign with eight requests to his former workplace for documents.
Murray's lawyers, Peter Cullen Law from Wellington, have sent the eight Official Information Act (OIA) requests to Waikato District Health Board since the former chief executive resigned in October last year.
Murray resigned after an investigation into his expenses which found he spent $218,000 of taxpayer money travelling for work in the three years he was in charge.
A State Services Commission inquiry found $120,000 of that was either unauthorised or unjustified.
The case has been turned over to the Serious Fraud Office, and the purchase of a failed $25.7 million virtual health platform by the DHB under Murray's watch is being investigated by the Auditor-General.
The OIAs follow a move by Murray's lawyers to obtain the 12 witness statements provided to the State Services Commission lead investigator John Ombler for that inquiry.
State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes during the release of its inquiry findings into the spending of taxpayer money by Dr Nigel Murray. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Last month the Herald revealed the confidential statements made to the Government's chief watchdog during the high-profile investigation could be released in an unprecedented move that could influence whether witnesses speak out in future cases.
A top-level legal argument broke out over the witness statements in the inquiry into Murray's spending.
That situation remains unresolved after the SSC initially refused release of the statements prompting Peter Cullen Law to complain to the Ombudsman and Privacy Commissioner.
The SSC, which was in talks with Privacy Commissioner John Edwards over the issue, told the Herald his decision would have significant ramifications for future state sector investigations.
The statements stemmed from interviews with the 12 witnesses, only one of whom is anonymous.
They included the three senior DHB staff who raised concerns with former board chairman Bob Simcock over Murray's expenses last year.
Last week the DHB confirmed to the Herald it had received eight OIA requests but declined to release details of the information sought because of privacy reasons.
The Herald was expecting the information but the DHB halted the release at the 11th hour, citing section 9(2)(a) of the Official Information Act - "to protect the privacy of natural persons".
It's unclear if the OIAs were released to Murray's lawyers and, if so, whether any details were redacted or the work was charged for.
The lawyer acting for Murray, Calum Cartwright of Peter Cullen Law, said he could not comment on why and what information was being requested.
"There are still investigations continuing and it would not be in the interest of any of the parties to pre-empt these investigations by releasing details of Official Information Act inquiries that are still being addressed."
Waikato District Health Board cannot release details of the official information requests due to privacy reasons. Photo / Alan Gibson
Under the Official Information Act 1982, individuals can request data, documents, correspondence and other information from any government-funded agency or statutory Crown entity.
It's used for all sorts of reasons, including by the media to make public information that would otherwise stay secret.
Examples of information available include emails between individuals, documents, reports, and even text-message exchanges.
Waikato DHB could not say how much the eight OIAs had cost, but at the same time it was rocked by the expenses scandal last year OIA requests climbed to the highest in three years and cost taxpayers an estimated $200,000.
In total there were 262 OIA requests last year, with at least 107 from the media - three times the number of media requests for official information compared to the two years prior.
In October 2017 alone, the month Murray was allowed to resign, 41 requests were logged by the DHB, the highest of any month in the entire three years.
Since January this year the DHB had logged 109 OIA requests.
