Ralph Stewart quits as ACC chief

Ralph Stewart. Photo / Supplied

ACC chief executive Ralph Stewart has become the latest scalp in the fall out from the Bronwyn Pullar fiasco, this morning confirming he is resigning after just eight months in the job.

Mr Stewart's resignation comes just a day after a boardroom purge at the state owned accident insurer in which chairman John Judge was effectively forced out of his job by ACC Minister Judith Collins, and his deputy John McLiskie and another director Rob Campbell were also told they would not be reappointed.

Mr Stewart said the events of recent days and the departure of Mr Judge and the other directors "has brought me to the point where I have decided to step down as chief executive''.

"I am deeply frustrated that the benefits of the scheme and the great work we do has been overshadowed by recent events.''

"This has been an incredibly hard decision to take and one that I have considered very carefully."

Pressure on Mr Judge and ACC chief executive Ralph Stewart had been mounting since TV3's 60 Minutes programme on Sunday broadcast a recording of controversial meeting between Ms Pullar and corporation managers.

ACC in March laid a complaint with police alleging Ms Pullar made threats that unless she received a guaranteed benefit she would reveal to the media that ACC had breached thousands of client's privacy by mistakenly sending her a file in August last year.

But following an initial investigation, the police last week said no evidence of an offence by Ms Pullar had been disclosed.

Labour's ACC spokesman Andrew Little said Mrs Collins should be the next to go as Mr Stewart's resignation confirmed the depth of the crisis facing ACC.

"We've got the chairman going, at least two other directors going, and the chief executive going.

"What we need now is a minister who can devote their full time and attention to ACC at the time of its greatest crisis. That's what John Key's next move should be.''