Fraud suspect may have approved her own leave to flee country
"It's going to be incredibly hard . . . to call her to account." Labour transport spokeswoman Sue Moroney
Alleged public service fraudster Joanne Harrison may have approved her own leave before fleeing New Zealand under an assumed identity.
It was revealed on Thursday that the senior Ministry of Transport staffer is alleged to have stolen between $750,000 and $1 million from taxpayers before leaving the country, possibly for Canada.
Labour transport spokeswoman Sue Moroney said a highly placed source had told her Harrison became aware earlier this year that questions were being asked at the ministry about missing money.
In her senior position as general manager of organisational development she could have approved her own leave and then ‘‘scarpered’’, Moroney said.
As a Serious Fraud Office investigation got under way, Harrison was probably already out of the country, as early as April. The only person above Harrison who could have vetoed her leave request was the ministry’s then chief executive, Martin Matthews, who has since left the department, Moroney said. ’’Questions need to be asked about what he knew, and how soon he knew about it.’’
She had also been told Harrison’s passport might not be legitimate, Moroney said. ’’It’s going to be incredibly hard for Ministry of Transport to call her to account because she uses different names, and she may be travelling on a passport that is not 100 per cent kosher.’’
Harrison’s previous employment in New Zealand included working for insurer Tower under the name Joanne Sharp. A Tower spokesman would not discuss her time there, citing privacy reasons.
She then moved to a job at the Far North District Council, where she did not stay long.
Wayne Brown, mayor of the Far North at the time, said it would have been a hard place to commit fraud as it was ’’crawling with Audit New Zealand staff’’.
When he was there, he got staff to check that employees’ experi- ence and skills matched up with what was on their CVs. ’’She probably left because she knew people were looking at people’s qualifications,’’ he said.
Sometime after April 2013, she was appointed to the Ministry of Transport’s leadership team. It was while she was in that role that management became aware of financial discrepancies.
The Serious Fraud Office confirmed on Friday that an investigation had not yet been completed.
Ministry of Transport spokesman Gavin Middleton said all employment material for Harrison had been passed on to the Serious Fraud Office, and he could not discuss it further.
Ministry chief executive Peter Mersi – who stepped into Matthews’ shoes only this week – confirmed: ’’In light of what has happened, it is prudent to confirm that our systems, processes and controls are robust. To provide this assurance, a number of reviews are now under way. These focus on internal controls and recruitment processes.’’
The ministry was asked whether Harrison approved her own leave, whether questions about missing money had been raised before she booked leave and, if so, why her leave was not blocked. It was also asked if background checks were done. It refused to comment further, citing the ongoing investigation.
A police statement said the Serious Fraud Office was the lead agency and police were not investigating. Any questions regarding extradition had to be put to the SFO. ’’Generally speaking, if someone is offshore, Interpol becomes involved during the extradition process. The lead investigating agency would need to apply for extradition through the court.’’