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Public Service Frauds At Otago District Health Board Essay

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Introduction This report is going to look at “one of the biggest public service frauds” happened at Otago District Health Board during 2000 to 2006. The despicable scandal in auditing was involved with $16.9 million “dirty” money and was disclosed in December 2008 (McLean, 2008). This report will provide a background of the organization and give an overview of the event. Then it will go further to analyze one example of fraud and its influences to stakeholders. Finally, the report will focus on the responsibilities of auditors in this case and tell the consequence of the defrauders. Organization- Otago District Health Board Otago District Health Board, which was known as Otago Healthcare, was established officially on January 1, 2001, as one of the 21 district health boards under the NZ Public Health and Disability Act 2000 (NZPHD). It was a publicly funded health sector and was responsible for “planning, funding and providing health and disability services to the population.” On 1 May 2010, Otago and Southland District Health Board merged to a new entity called Southern District Health Board (Southern DHB, n.d.). Events overview Between August 2000 and August 2006, Otago District Health Board was defrauded of $16.9 million by its former board chief information officer Micheal Andrew Swann, 47, and his friend, Queenstown surveyor Kerry Gray Harford, 48, as his accomplice (Peart, 2008). Swann abused his authority and signed off 198 invoices from Harford-owned company

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