Murray spent $100k moving

Canadian audit reveals excessive costs run up in BC

Aformer health board chief executive who resigned amid an expenses scandal, spent more than $100,000 moving to a job in Canada in 2007, including claiming for the cost to sell his house in New Zealand.

Dr Nigel Murray resigned from Waikato District Health Board in October after he was found to have overspent on relocation costs from Canada to Hamilton by $27,000 and claimed unauthorised expenses.

His spending during three years in the Waikato DHB job totalled $218,000. The findings of a State Services Commission inquiry into the spending will be announced today.

Murray’s C$103,502 ($110,000) spend was higher than was allocated for relocation in his contract as chief executive of Fraser Health Authority in British Columbia.

The information, contained in an audit of Fraser Health Authority’s senior managers’ pay and expenses and conducted by KPMG in October 2014, was released yesterday in a Canadian Freedom of Information response obtained by the Herald.

The relocation costs he claimed from the Fraser authority included: $18,869 to sell his old house in NZ; $14,653 to move personal effects; $20,821 travelling costs for him and his family to move to Canada;

$23,717 for temporary living expenses including $13,324 in temporary rental accommodation; $25,145 for “miscellaneous” costs; $296 for drivers’ permits. Murray also claimed $5000 for a month’s hotel accommodation before leaving NZ and rental costs for two cars for two months on arrival.

A further $4000 was claimed for costs related to obtaining permanent residency including medical exams and criminal record checks.

Auditors said Murray’s contract allowed for C$40,000 for relocation including $15,000 for temporary rental accommodation in the first three months, and reimbursement of other “reasonable” expenses.

All of the costs were approved by a board of directors at Fraser Health, where Murray had done some consulting before leaving his job as chief executive of the then Southland DHB.

The audit, which covered five of Murray’s seven years at Fraser, also found he was entitled to and claimed a $500 monthly car allowance plus $18,000 in mileage despite mileage not being referenced in his contract.

Murray’s team had 22 claims amounting to more than $1600 related to the purchase of electronic accessories that were reimbursed to management, even though the authority’s policy required no computer, hardware or software purchases.

“The majority of these claims were associated with Dr Murray.”

Meal expenses claims by Murray and his senior leadership team often exceeded the $52 a day entitlement and there were more than 200 claims that did not identify who was present.

In more than 400 instances, costing at least $22,000, meal expenses were either not supported by an itemised receipt or failed to have a written explanation of the purpose.

Auditors could not determine if alcohol had been purchased.

Unusual practices were also found around salary increases in Murray’s management team including salary increases paid twice a year.

Murray, who was the highest-paid health region CEO in British Columbia on C$444,000 when he left Canada in mid-2014, did not get a pay rise but received his $30,000 annual performance bonus every year.

He left weeks after a damning review found Fraser to be the worstperforming authority in Canada.

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell, who warned Waikato DHB chairman Bob Simcock not to hire Murray over his leadership style, was stunned by the audit. “It really is extraordinary.” Waikato interim chief Derek Wright said the DHB did not know about Murray’s Canadian expenses and would not comment further.

Questions to Simcock asking whether he was notified of the audit in 2014 remain unanswered.