Fraud case continues to haunt Matthews

The theft of $100 to $200 cash was among justifications used for ‘‘covert’’ action and secrecy when Joanne Harrison was confronted at the Ministry of Transport (MOT).

Focus has sharpened in recent days on Harrison’s $725,000 fraud, and how her former boss, Martin Matthews, handled concerns.

Matthews, now the auditorgeneral, approved Harrison for the fulltime role in 2015. He has again stood by his handling of the saga.

Documents released under the Official Information Act show that in 2014, bogus contractor ‘‘Mark Sharp’’ was emailing an MOT lawyer after questions were raised.

On August 25 that year, Matthews acknowledged multiple concerns with Sharp Design. Among those, it had blanked out information in some invoices, so MOT could not see what services were provided.

MOT lawyer Lisa Nickson emailed Harrison in October that year, saying material Sharp provided might not neutralise probing questions Matthews could face at a parliamentary select committee.

Within two hours, Harrison complained to Matthews, urging inquiries be quashed, and accusing Nickson of getting ‘‘agitated’’ at refusals to disclose information.

On December 16, 2014, Matthews told Nickson he wouldn’t pursue concerns, and was happy for her to ‘‘close this out’’.

Regarding security-related advice, Matthews said secrecy was upheld to ‘‘protect the ‘covert’ nature of attempts to determine who may have been responsible for theft ... on the ministry’s premises’’.

This week, MOT said the theft in question was believed about $100 to $200 cash.

‘‘None of it was recovered. We do not know if anyone was identified as being responsible, and have no evidence that Sharp Design actually provided any security measures.’’

A spokesman for the auditorgeneral’s office said yesterday that Matthews was aware of recent ‘‘claims and allegations’’ about decisions he made.

‘‘As he has stated earlier, he regrets that these events took place under his watch and wishes he could have detected her criminal to be activity earlier. He stands by the decisions he made, because they were based on information available at the time.’’

The Public Service Association, some opposition MPs, and new MOT boss Peter Mersi have voiced support for an independent inquiry into how the ministry had handled Harrison.

But yesterday, ACT leader David Seymour backed Matthews. ‘‘As I understand it, he was associated but not responsible for what went on.’’

NZ First leader Winston Peters called for Matthews to step down.