Sacking Otago District Health Board chairman Richard Thomson would have convicted fraud Michael Swann "sitting in his prison cell grinning from ear to ear", Dunedin North Labour MP Pete Hodgson suggested in Parliament yesterday.
Mr Hodgson, a former health minister, and Opposition leader Phil Goff both asked questions about Health Minister Tony Ryall's handling of the possible sacking of Mr Thomson over the $16.9 million fraud.
Prime Minister John Key expressed "great confidence" in Mr Ryall's handling of the case, repeatedly saying he was following due process.
In his questions to Mr Ryall, Mr Hodgson asked if it had occurred to him that should he sack Mr Thomson, then Michael Swann, "the guy Mr Thomson helped catch, will be sitting in his prison cell grinning from ear to ear? And why would that be a good thing?"Speaker Lockwood Smith asked Mr Ryall to be careful answering the question because the people involved in the case had not yet been sentenced.
Mr Ryall's answer did not refer to Swann, but said he was considering the position of chairman "because accountability is a critical aspect of the role of chair".
Mr Goff asked Mr Key if he was confident the approach of Mr Ryall in "arrogantly trying to bully the elected chair of the district health board to resign" was consistent with Mr Ryall's views when an opposition MP who "earlier said that a well-founded dismissal of another board was `appalling political manipulation'?"Mr Key's response was that Mr Ryall was following due process and that when there was a $17 million fraud, the Government would ensure there was accountability, something the previous government did not do.
Mr Thomson expects to be sacked this week after his refusal to resign when asked to do so last month by Mr Ryall.
He and board members made a submission to Mr Ryall earlier this week as part of the legally required consultation process over the possible removal of him as chairman, but Mr Ryall has not yet announced a decision.
In Parliament yesterday Mr Goff led the attack, asking why Mr Key would have confidence in or tolerate the behaviour of a minister whose behaviour had been described by the Otago Daily Times as having compromised any semblance of due process.
Mr Key said he had great confidence in the minister, who was prepared to "look for accountability when there is a $17 million fraud".
Mr Ryall's responses also emphasised the need for accountability over a fraud which he described as the largest in the history of the New Zealand state services.
Mr Goff asked if the Prime Minister supported and had confidence in Mr Ryall's efforts to sack Mr Thomson on the basis of a fraud initiated before Mr Thomson became the chairman and when "Mr Thomson was in fact responsible for helping catch the crooks; if so, why?"Mr Key said he understood Mr Ryall was following a proper process and at this stage no decision had been made.
Mr Goff asked if Mr Key was confident Mr Ryall was right in the matter of due process and that "Otago's chief medical officer, the senior doctors and staff, the entire Otago District Health Board, the Otago Daily Times, and the big majority of the voting public that re-elected Mr Thomson are wrong."
Mr Key repeated that Mr Ryall was following due process.
He was not responsible for what the Otago Daily Times wrote "although I have noted that in recent times it has written some pretty terrible stuff about the Labour Party".
In response to a question from National MP Dr Paul Hutchison about what health services could be bought with $17 million, Mr Ryall said it would provide more than 1100 knee replacements or 1200 primary hip replacements, or nearly 700 coronary by-pass operations.
