KEY POINTS:
The State Services Commission has asked Corrections Department chief executive Barry Matthews to resign in return for a sweetheart job, Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove claimed yesterday.
Mr Matthews is expected to step down from his $375,000-a-year role after Corrections Minister Judith Collins refused to express confidence in him over the damning Auditor-General's report into parole.
The Auditor-General, Kevin Brady, examined 100 parole cases, including 52 high-risk offenders, and reported that in most of them the correct procedures were not followed.
Staff did not even carry out some of the special provisions brought in after parolee Graeme Burton murdered Kurt Kuchenbecker in January 2007.
Yesterday, Mr Cosgrove used question time in Parliament to grill Ms Collins over the case.
He revealed Mr Matthews had had a performance review that he said Ms Collins had participated in.
"Can she confirm that Mr Matthews received a positive performance appraisal from the State Services Commissioner [Iain Rennie] and at the time of the appraisal, which was just last week, the State Services Commissioner was aware of the content of the Auditor-General's draft report?" Mr Cosgrove asked.
Ms Collins said she did not know the outcome of the performance review and she could not comment on a matter between Mr Matthews and his employer, the commissioner.
Mr Cosgrove said Mr Matthews met Mr Rennie yesterday morning.
"A proposal was put to him that he resign and if he did so he would be offered a highly-paid sweetheart job within the public service for the next six months."
Ms Collins said she was not aware of that.
A spokesman for the commission said there would be no comment at all on the employment matter.
Mr Cosgrove suggested Ms Collins' public statements could see the taxpayer pick up the bill for an employment-related settlement in the Matthews case.
"Is she just trying to grab a couple of headlines that the taxpayer may end up picking up the tab for?"
Ms Collins said she was not.
Mr Cosgrove also alleged Finance Minister Bill English got legal advice that Ms Collins had compromised the Crown's legal position, but Mr English said that was false.
"I've received no such advice, nor sought it."
Ms Collins gave the commission 10 working days from Tuesday to tell her who was accountable for what she called "damning failures" highlighted in the report.
After it was released, Ms Collins called a press conference to deliver criticism of the department.
Prime Minister John Key said the public was entitled to accountability for the department's failure to follow its own procedures.
Mr Matthews is expected to break his silence today. After being unavailable since the report came out, he has made appointments to speak to journalists.
- NZPA
