Swann gets nine and a half years
March 12th, 2009 at 9:12 am by David FarrarI was very pleased to see Michael Swann get nine and a half years jail for his unprecedented fraud of $17m from taxpayers through the Otago District Health Board.
Despite what he says, he has shown no remorse. His pitiful attempts at a defence, that his company did deliver the services contracted showed that. At least Kerry Harford admitted guilt and remorse early on and his sentence of four years three months is about right also.
Look at Harford arguing to the end that what he did nas not so bad:
Mr Haig took issue with the victim impact statement which said the defrauded money could have been used for surgery or more nurses.
“My instructions are that is completely wrong. The money that was taken was health administration money.”
While there was no denying much of the money had been spent on property – “not spectacularly luxurious property I might add” – boats and cars, there was “no real champagne lifestyle”.
I hope the Parole Board don’t let him out halfway through. I don’t detect one hint of remorse.
The ODT editorial says:
First, the crimes of Swann, especially, were those of cunning calculation, carried out from a position of absolute trust and significant authority, involving a sum of money unimaginable to most people. …
Second, Swann and Harford robbed a public institution, not some private enterprise, and thus stole from all taxpayers, rich and poor.
Third, the institution was a hospital board, that is to say, an entity dedicated to the sick and injured, where no “profit” is expected and where every cent of income is desperately important – literally life-saving.
In the annals of so-called “white collar” crime in this country there has been no more despicable example.
One aspect of the editorial scares me:
As to the difficulty of establishing its criminality, it is notable that when first presented with suspicion of what seemed initially to be highly complex circumstantial evidence, the Dunedin police declined to investigate.
The Serious Fraud Office, with its special skills and powers, was finally the agency to put Swann and Harford behind bars.
The Police would not investigate????
And Labour tried to abolish the SFO and transfer its functions back to the Police! Thank God for a change of Government.
Related posts:
- The Swann case
- Why the Otago District Health Board Chair and CEO should be sacked
- Dewar gets four and a half years
- SFO Director slams Government on serious fraud
March 12th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Good job on the 9 and a half years.
Cullen should do porridge for about 10,000 years on a relative basis.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Good post. Good sentence. Parole ????????????????
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 9:26 am
“As to the difficulty of establishing its criminality, it is notable that when first presented with suspicion of what seemed initially to be highly complex circumstantial evidence, the Dunedin police declined to investigate. ”
Anybody would think that line was linked to the Bain trial. No wonder the kiwi keystone cops are the sick joke of the land!
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 10:42 am
He might have said that the money taken didn’t affect public health as it was just like poorly invested trust money. Where everyone has taken a blue.
Sounds like the ACC, and Cullen Fund excuse.
The SFO mooted demise was a real step towards Labour Control of the legal process, along with the Privy Council severance.
Build your very own Supreme Court function staffed by the Judges closest to the cause.
A cynical ploy to wrest power from the Constitution. All they had to do was implant their own Billy Bunter patsy in as Chief of Police, and they would have had a Royal Flush!
Oh wait!
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Perhaps the thing that would piss me off most would be this arsehole getting sick in prison. Straight to the hospital for the prick, while those on the outside wait for an operation that may have been taken care of if the money had not been nicked. If the bastard falls ill I hope he has to wait nine and half years to be treated.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 10:58 am
This sentence is a cultural disgrace, I would suggest it is also racist.
Given the overwhelming Scottish ancestory in Otago Mr Swann should have had the option of a clan based justice system, no account was made by the sentencing judge of Mr Swann’s cultural heritage which I believe he is a very recent devotee of.
Mr Swann should have been sent to spend time with the Clans elders, there he would have been schooled in the ways of this clan and could have continued his spiritual enlightenment that his recent cultural rediscovery/conversion was beginning to teach him.
While spending time with the clans elders he would have learn that his actions were questionable, this he would discover through cultural and historical teachings and the tales of the highlands, intensive classes in the ancient Glaswegian martial art of “headbutto” would also greatly increase his confidence and ability to empathise with those around him.
It is time that the clans of the south stood up for their own justice system, Mr Swann has been sentenced by a culture and a system he no longer recognises or wishes to be a part of, it is nothing short of racist.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 11:01 am
The parole board let out those pack rapists early, I see this guy getting out early too.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Well of course he will do no more than 4and half years and less than that when home detention to allow preparation for life outside etc is added in. $4mill a year not a bad return.
I think you are being a bit hard on the Dunedin Police, the SFO handles fraud cases over half million, they have greater powers and it would not have been appropriate for the Police to take it on unless the SFO declined to.
In my view this is the most alarming excerpt from the editorial……..
..”Why was it not detected sooner? There was some evidence that a previous administration was warned about Swann’s alleged past activities, and cautioned about employing him in any position of responsibility involving money. “
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Swann was sentenced to a minimum non-parole period of 4 and a half years, but no mention of a fixed non-parole period for Harford, so he’ll come up for parole after serving one-third of his sentence.
Which means that unless the Parole Board thinks they’re likely to reoffend, Swann will be released after 4 and a half years, and Harford after 18 months.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
I am genuinely interested in hearing David Garrett explain why white collar criminals like these don’t deserve a strike from his 3 Strikes Bill.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Someone show this to David Garrett next time he complains about the Courts not giving out cumulative sentences.
9-and-a-half years for fraud. The maximum for the offending is 7 years.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Graeme – it’s society’s need for revenge that’s important here.
ENOUGH of your leftist mollycoddling of criminals and insistence on their rights!
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
The Otago District Health Board are absolutely at fault here.
Vote:Nobody flogs THAT MUCH without leaving some fishy smell about the place.
And it is the duty of a board to search further when something weird comes up. I just get the picture that this Board would have been more interested in attending to cultural rights and all that sort of crap, rather than some con artist getting millions and millions.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
big bruv To expand of your clan based solution one could also recommend the clan conduct the form of punishment in previous times where Messrs Swann and Harford would be hanged by the neck until they were almost but not quite deceased.
They would then watch as their entrails were drawn and burnt in front of them.
The final act would see them quartered with each part buried at the four furtherest points of the clans land.
This would be the suitable punishment ofr these two and act as a deterent to others.
Vote:March 12th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
So what should the sentence be for the board members and accountant of the ODHB who increased the ODHB employee fraud insurance from $2m pa to $5m pa on the 1 July 2006 and then commenced their investigation into Swann in a computer document I hold with a creation date of 28th July 2006.
Their insurance claim for $5m was turned down well before the trial and nothing to do with the innocence or guilt of the two defendants.
The chairman has been reported as saying they were onto Swann early that year.
The Finance Audit and Risk committee receive the insurance report via the CFO and attach their recommendation to approve it to the full board who then did so.
Is that dodgey, insurance fraud or at best grounds to immediately appoint a commissioner to replace all current board members and senior management involved in this nice little attempt to profit from the fraud.
Vote: