Computer South Ltd – Removal Notice Marks $16.9 Million dollar Fraud Fiasco

Convicted fraudster Michael Andrew Swann, who together with his convicted accomplice Kerry Gray Harford, defrauded the Otago District Health Board of $16.9 Million over six years (2000-2006), ran Computer South Ltd as his personal de facto bank account for the laundering of money obtained by fraud from the DHB, despite the fact he held no office in the company and held no shares. (As a convicted bankrupt he was unable to hold shares in or direct any company).

Mr Swann’s close friend Peter Bruce Bruce Ibbotson, a plumber of Warrington, was put in place as director when the company was incorporated in 1997. In the Dunedin High Court where Swann faced charges for fraud, Ibbotson admitted that he had had almost no involvement (2000-2006) in any management of governance aspect of Computer South Ltd, a company which the Serious Fraud Office reported owned no assets, employed no staff, filed no tax returns, and was controlled by Swann rather than listed “director” Peter Ibbotson.

 A Notice of intention to remove Computer South Ltd from the Register of Companies under section 318(1)(b) of the Companies Act 1993, was issued by Mr Neville Harris, the Registrar, on 25 November 2010. [Read more...]

Michael Swann, Checketts McKay Law, Fraud and Otago DHB’s missing $6 Million: Report

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said it was “very pleased” when on March 12 2009 the two perpetrators of the largest fraud ever carried out by a state employee against a New Zealand government institution – the vulnerable Otago District Hospital Board (ODH) – were sentenced in the Dunedin High Court to lengthy prison terms. Both had been convicted by jury trial on 5 December 2008 of criminal intent to defraud the ODHB of $16.9 million using false documents.

The SFO described the $15.2 million fraud committed by the primary offender, former bankrupt Michael Andrew Swann, as the largest ever successfully prosecuted involving an individual person. Swann was sentenced to nine and a half years jail and his accomplice Kerry Gray Harford, to four years three months jail. [Read more...]

%d bloggers like this: