Flowers still on sick leave
Wintec chief executive Mark Flowers remains on sick leave, eight weeks after he stepped away from his desk.
Wintec communications director Erin Andersen confirmed on Monday Flowers was still on leave.
Flowers’ sick leave was announced to
Wintec staff via an email on August 17.
The email stated
Flowers was not expected back at work until mid-October at the earliest.
Andersen said there were no further updates she could give on Flowers at this stage.
David Christiansen has stepped in as acting chief executive in Flowers’ absence.
Christiansen has been at the polytech since the early 2000s working in the planning unit and has been a senior adviser to Flowers since 2007. He also directs the international arm of Wintec.
In September it was announced a fresh probe into serious allegations against Flowers had been launched.
The reinvestigation of claims first made in 2015 are proceeding alongside a separate investigation by the Auditor-General into spending by Flowers and his executive teams dating to 2013.
Although the 2015 investigation cleared Flowers of any wrongdoing, a review in May this year found it was not robust. The investigation is being conducted by Queen’s Counsel Simon Mount from Auckland.
Earlier this year, Stuff reported Wintec had spent in excess of $200,000 on legal advice and a public relations firm to manage its image during a twoyear investigation by Stuff into multiple allegations against Flowers.