The Star: May 11, 2017

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi
Thursday May 11 2017 11
News
Warning over CDHB conflicts
• By Gabrielle Stuart
HEALTH BOARD members
have been told they should have
made a decision on the conflict
of interest which lead to the
resignation of former chairman
Murray Cleverley.
Mr Cleverley
(left) resigned
last month after
an investigation
into potential
conflicts of interest,
including
around a building
the Canterbury District
health Board leased.
Mr Cleverley told the other
health board members about
the potential conflict last year,
but they allowed him to decide
how to handle it.
But speaking at a CDHB
meeting, senior corporate
solicitor Greg Brogden told
health board members they
were all responsible for making
a collective decision about how
conflicts were handled.
“It would be wrong for a board
member to say I think I have
managed this situation, and for
you to carry on. You’re all responsible
for perceived or direct
conflict,” he told the board.
INVESTIGATED: Former Canterbury District Health Board
chairman Murray Cleverley was also director of a company
which owns an Oxford Tce building leased by the CDHB.
The conflict related to a building
on Oxford Tce which was
bought by Silverfin Capital Ltd
in December last year on behalf
of a syndicate of investors, and
leased to the CDHB.
Mr Cleverley became a director
of Silverfin in May last year.
He included the company on
his list of CDHB interests that
month, but did not flag it as a
potential conflict of interest
until August, when Silverfin
was in the process of buying the
building.
The Ministry of Health then
asked Mr Cleverley for an explanation.
It was told Mr Cleverley
would stay out of any decisions
around the building, but those
were unlikely to happen while
he was CDHB chairman.
That was because the CDHB
had signed a long-term lease of
the building in 2014, and the
lease was not up for renegotiation
until 2030.
The building was sold to
Silverfin in December, but the
CDHB, as tenant of the building,
was not involved in the deal.
The Ministry of Health discussed
the issue with the State
Services Commission, and they
decided the “optimal solution”
would be for Mr Cleverley to
resign from Silverfin.
But when that was put to Mr
Cleverley, he refused to resign.
During the later investigation,
Mr Cleverley told investigator
Michael Heron QC: “Their view
that I should resign from Silverfin
was to me naively uncommercial,
somewhat insulting to
me (by implying I might not be
trustworthy), and not justified
on the facts.”
Mr Heron concluded Mr
Cleverley was entitled to take
the position he did, but resigning
from the directorship would
have been “the prudent and cautious
course of action here.”
Mr Cleverley also part-owned
an investment company with
former CERA employees
Gerard Gallagher and Simon
Nikoloff, who the investigation
found had committed “serious
misconduct.”
Three other former CERA
employees are now being investigated
for potential conflicts of
interest.
Call for strict
conditions on
dredging plan
• By Bridget Rutherford
MARINE FARMERS have
called for strict conditions to be
put in place if Lyttelton Port of
Christchurch’s dredging plan goes
ahead.
LPC has applied for resource consent
to deepen, widen and lengthen
the current navigation channel to let
larger container ships in in an $80-
$130 million project.
The farmers want strict conditions,
including comprehensive
monitoring, if the consent was
granted to protect marine life.
In his hearing submission, Ngai
Tahu Seafoods marine biologist
Thomas Hildebrand said the
dredging could add stress to paua,
rock lobster, mussels and their
habitats.
LPC has done comprehensive
studies on the effects of marine
life, but Mr Hilderbrand said
they did not address the effects on
paua.
The proposal says the 18 million
cu m of sediment removed would be
dumped about 6km off shore from
Godley Head.
Mr Hildebrand said the sediment
could drift, or bury rock lobster
passing through the dumping area.