Probe into court hiring practices

By SCOTT INGLIS

A former senior Courts Department manager is being investigated for allegedly favouring family and friends when hiring staff.

The department is about to begin a major internal inquiry into the hiring practices of former Auckland District Court collections unit manager Losa Purcell-Milford.

The probe by the department's Wellington-based business assurance unit follows at least two staff complaints.

Northern area collections manager Vincent Naidu confirmed to the Herald that at least three collections unit workers - Caroline Mataio, Letisia Smith and Martin Purcell - were related to Mrs Purcell-Milford.

Caroline Mataio and Letisia Smith were officially hired 10 days before Mrs Purcell-Milford resigned. Another staff member used to work with Mrs Purcell-Milford.

Mr Naidu said it was up to the investigation team to establish if there were any others and whether proper hiring procedures had been followed. He stressed that the allegations had not been proved.

He said it was difficult to know, unless staff revealed any family or friendly connection, because of different surnames.

A letter of complaint from one staff member, leaked to the Herald, claims that most of the unit's 30-plus staff were either her Samoan relatives or friends. Management deny that.

Mrs Purcell-Milford quit her job of three years on March 31 after an earlier management investigation found serious breaches of several departmental policies within the unit.

A leaked April 4 staff e-mail from Mr Naidu said the inquiry found policies on security access to the Auckland court building, vehicle use and car parking had been breached.

Mr Naidu yesterday refused to provide further details on the security and other breaches, saying they were "internal matters."

However, he confirmed that the new investigation, which would start in a few days, would focus on whether Mrs Purcell-Milford followed department policy when hiring staff.

Another leaked memo, from interim unit manager Amanda Tooker on April 6, said: "We all know that there has been some fallout from Losa's departure. Some staff would have been relieved, others will have been sad to see her go. Some staff may be worried about how they will [be] treated now, if they had any family or friendly affiliation to Losa.

"Firstly, I want all staff to be completely assured that anyone who has a family/friend affiliation with Losa will not be treated negatively by myself or the team leaders because of that relationship."

Amanda Tooker told the Herald last night that she did not know exactly how many of her staff were related to or were friends with Mrs Purcell-Milford, but she could have "an educated guess."

She refused to say what the figure would be but emphasised it was not most of the entire team as alleged by one anonymous former employee.

When asked if there had been nepotism in her unit before she arrived, she responded: "I wouldn't know. That's the thing really, how do you really know for sure?"

She said she had hired Martin Purcell since Mrs Purcell-Milford left but admitted he had been employed by the department previously.

A spokesman for Courts Minister Matt Robson said the issue was an operations one and the minister would not comment.

Mrs Purcell-Milford last night denied any wrongdoing and said she had followed all department hiring rules. She said she resigned following an earlier internal investigation launched after she let her daughter use her car park and a male friend drive a department car after she had been drinking.