The Corrections Department said today that former Rimutaka Prison unit manager Jim Morgan has returned to work following an employment investigation.
But the department declined to say if Mr Morgan was back at Rimutaka and if not where he working and what he was doing.
And it would
not disclose the findings of the investigation.
Mr Morgan was suspended on full pay in May last year while being investigated for alleged misappropriation of prison gym money and misuse of a departmental vehicle.
During his suspension Mr Morgan was part of a parliamentary rugby team that flew to France, under the captaincy of then Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor.
The political storm about the trip and Mr Morgan's part in it that broke over Mr O'Connor cost the minister his job in last November's Cabinet reshuffle and he tumbled down the Cabinet rankings.
In February this year the Employment Relations Authority rejected Mr Morgan's claim that he should not have been suspended while being investigated.
He had asked the authority to be reinstated and claimed $25,000 in compensation.
But the authority ruled the decision by the department to suspend him was fair.
Corrections assistant regional manager Liz Nielsen said in a statement today Mr Morgan had returned to work following the completion of the employment investigation.
"This is an employment matter and I am not willing to publicly discuss the specifics of this investigation any further," she said.
The department had been asked by NZPA to specify where Mr Morgan was working and what he was doing, and about the outcome of the inquiry.
- NZPA
