The $1.3 million spent by the Otago District Health Board on legal expenses and costs related to protecting assets to date, after the $16.9 million fraud, needs to be seen in context, board chairman Richard Thomson says.
Some of the money spent had been on securing assets which would be the subject of a civil claim yet to be dealt with in the High Court at Dunedin, he said.
Mr Thomson said because of the way the legal system worked, such expenses were unavoidable.
If the board had waited until the fraud was proved in the criminal court, and then decided to look for reparation, there "probably wouldn't be any assets".
Even if the board only recovered enough to cover its costs, "we would be doing significantly better than leaving the assets in Michael Swann's hands", he said.
