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Ryan Bridge: How was a former Covid response lead able to steal $1.8 million? · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This story should shock everybody, but sadly, I don't think
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: it's going to the headline from yesterday. Former COVID response
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: lead stole one point eight million dollars from dhb's A
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: from us from taxpayer's name is Alister Thorby. This guy
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: was twenty five years old, yet somehow managed to be
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: in charge of the dhb's response to the COVID pandemic
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: in the Low and North Island. How he bought cars,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: a holiday, a house even with this money. He was
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: an MiQ boss basically submitted invoices for work that never happened.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: One invoice was for three hundred thousand dollars two of
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: the companies the invoice four didn't even exist. Now this
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: is bad for two reasons. One, how on earth does
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: some twenty five year old who's been in the job
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: for just five months bill one point eight million dollars
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: and get those invoices paid. That's criminal who signed off
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: on the checks, who was in charge? That is outrageous.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Number Two, the timing. The judging the case points out
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: that the money went out the door at a time
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: when the government was scrambling to deal with COVID. Except
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: this guy was employed October twenty twenty one to June
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. We were letting DJs through the border
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: for Rhythm and Vines. By then, the Wiggles were performing
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Big Red Car at Spark Arena, So that doesn't add
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: up in my mind. It wasn't Panic Stations. It was
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: business as usual by then for COVID. So who was
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: writing the checks on our behalf? Something tells me this
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: guy probably wasn't alone in taking the purse, taking us
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: for a rider's taxpayers. Give fraudsters an inch, they'll take
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: a mile. This was, after all, peak Adern Hipkin's money
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: tap error, and the tap was on and it was
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: hosing out. We were throwing money out the window like
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: there was no tomorrow. Was this the tip of the iceberg?
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: And will anyone other than the guy who duped us
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: all be held responsible for the fact it was allowed
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: to happen in the first place. For more from Early
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talks it
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.