Taxpayers Union calls for Waikato DHB chairman to resign
A petition calling for Waikato DHB chairman Bob Simcock to resign has been started by the NZ Taxpayers’ Union.
It comes days after Waikato Hospital chief executive Nigel Murray resigned following an investigation into his spending. Murray’s resignation, which was accepted by the board on Thursday, came after a two-month investigation into his spending since becoming chief executive in 2014.
The Taxpayers’ Union posted the petition on its website after being contacted by its Waikato members who are demanding Simcock stand down over his handling of the affair. At 11.30am on Monday, 198 people had signed.
‘‘We say Mr Simcock should have had the systems in place to prevent Mr Murray’s expense claims getting out of control, especially given the clear warnings that came before Mr Murrary was hired,’’ the Union writes in a preamble to the petition. ‘‘The blame for it taking so long to detect rests squarely at the feet of the DHB and its Chair.’’
On Thursday, after accepting Murray’s resignation, the Waikato DHB chairman told the Waikato Times he had the full confidence of his board and would not resign. Simcock believed he handled the situation well.
‘‘I’m the authorising officer for any expenses that he has, which means that he should be coming to me for sign-off authority before he spends the money and it shouldn’t in general be being paid by the organisation. If that is not the case most of the things we are dealing with were not authorised.’’
Taxpayers’ Union executive director Jordan Williams said he had asked the DHB for details on Murray’s expenses but was refused, saying they formed part of the investigation into his unauthorised spending. ‘‘It’d be interesting to see what the transactions were and what he was doing on those trips.’’
Williams said Simcock’s role as chairman was untenable and called on him to resign. ‘‘They had warnings [about Murray] and it was Simcock’s job to sign off on the expenses or ensure systems were in place to prevent this happening and it’s taken three years.’’