Nigel Murray will not face criminal charges as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) concludes its investigation into the former Waikato DHB chief executive.
Murray was criticised last year for overspending taxpayers' money after an inquiry found he had no right to spend more than $120,000 that went on things like travel and accommodation. More than half of Dr Murray's spending was found to be unjustified.
In a statement on Thursday, the SFO said that "committing the additional very high level of resources required to prove criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt was not in the public interest".
"The SFO notes that Dr Murray's conduct has already been subject to an employment investigation by the Waikato DHB in 2017, and an investigation by the State Services Commission (SSC) in 2018."
Last year's inquiry highlighted a number of mistakes by the DHB, including failing to do a background check on Dr Murray, a failure by former DHB chair Bob Simcock to oversee his spending, and then the decision to let him resign.
"The SSC investigation found that Dr Murray's conduct did not meet the minimum standards expected of him as a CEO in the State sector," the SFO says.
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