Interim Waikato DHB chief welcomes SFO complaint and any investigation

There were no "red flags" over Nigel Murray (pictured) says the Waikato DHB interim chief executive Derek Wright, who welcomes an SFO complaint. Photo / Christine Cornege

The interim chief executive at Waikato District Health Board has welcomed a formal complaint to the Serious Fraud Office over Dr Nigel Murray's spending.

Derek Wright told Newstalk ZB host Mike Hosking this morning he was not concerned about the complaint, made yesterday by former Labour MP Sue Moroney and revealed by the Herald this morning.

When asked if he was worried about the complaint Wright said he was not, because "the bones of this organisation are really good".

"I think the problem is... that we're always in the media but we're always in the media because of one individual," Wright said.

"This organisation employs 7000 staff. Nearly every one of these staff are honest and do a really good job.

"We see tens of thousands of patients every year who have a good outcome going through this DHB."

He admitted the DHB had an image problem but said he welcomed any investigation.

"We want to get this finished. We want to get to the bottom of everything that's happened so we can move on. Nigel Murray's moved on. We want to put that era behind us."

Wright did not want to elaborate on the resignation of board chairman Bob Simcock on Tuesday following Herald revelations that day the SFO was making preliminary inquiries into the case.

"I think the chair has now done the right thing."

He said there were no red flags over Murray, who resigned in October amid an expenses scandal and after spending $218,000 of taxpayers money in his three years in the job.

"When you talk to the staff here there were no red flags. People saw him as being a CEO in a number of different places. He was doing some good things in Waikato DHB.

"So when this begun to come out, and bearing in mind it was staff in the DHB who identified the problem, it was a bit of a shock to people.

"It was a bit like a jigsaw. People had one piece of the jigsaw. Nigel Murray had the box."

Moroney laid the SFO complaint yesterday following the DHB's release of a damning Audit NZ report that showed Murray took international trips while on sick leave, used public money for personal jaunts, did not declare hospitality, booked his own travel and tried to hide the breaches.

The complaint asked that Murray's expense claims be investigated and that the SFO look into the circumstances surrounding the DHB's decision during Murray's tenure to invest an estimated $17 million of public money into a contract with HealthTap.

HealthTap is the American company that powers the DHB's virtual health app, SmartHealth.