A former Auckland hospital manager who pocketed more than $258,000 from suppliers in exchange for lucrative contracts with the health board has been sentenced to six months' home detention.
Garry Gorham, a former senior manager at the Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) – which was disestablished and replaced by Te Whatu Ora in 2022 – appeared in the Auckland District Court.
Judge Eddie Paul took into account the roughly seven months Gorham spent in custody in a United Kingdom prison and the 18 months he spent on restrictive electronic bail.
Gorham ran the ADHB's central sterile supply department from July 2007 until October 2016. He never told the health board about the payments despite being obliged to do so.
In March, he pleaded guilty to three secret commission charges for accepting $223,112 from two medical equipment suppliers, Alpine Medical Hardware Limited and Device Technologies New Zealand Limited (DTNZ).
He also pleaded guilty to a representative charge under the Crimes Act of corruptly disclosing official information. He received about $35,428 from Scotland-based software company Newgate Technology Limited and/or New Zealand company Technology Solutions Industry (TSI) Limited.
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) director Karen Chang said Gorham had abused the trust placed in him for personal gain.
"His actions risked undermining the trust in our public services. It's important for New Zealanders to have confidence in the procurement decisions in the public sector, particularly where health and safety could be impacted."
Chang said the SFO had extradited Gorham from the UK in March 2025. He had been held in custody there for about seven months after he failed to return from an approved trip while on bail.
Sales jumped from $52k to $400k a year
According to the SFO, Alpine made 33 payments totalling $210,482.95 to Gorham between September 2008 and October 2016, while it was supplying medical equipment to the ADHB.
Alpine's sales to the health board rose from about $52,000 a year to about $400,000 a year over the period Gorham worked there. He signed off 217 of about 390 Alpine invoices.
In one case, Gorham helped place a $5612.73 order with a Pakistani company on Alpine's behalf. Alpine then invoiced the ADHB $39,218.10 for the same order. Gorham approved the invoice, and Alpine paid $22,369 into his personal bank account.
DTNZ paid him $12,630 after it won a $1.7 million contract to refit the department. Gorham had sat on the panel preparing vendor requirements for new washers and sterilisers and co-wrote the report recommending DTNZ.
During a software procurement, he passed confidential documents and emails on six occasions to Newgate Technology and/or TSI. They included request-for-proposal details and scoring assessments, which Gorham shared before other vendors could see them. The company won the contracts and paid him $35,428.
"It's also important for suppliers in New Zealand and abroad to have faith in our procurement system, by making sure it is fair, and free of fraud and corruption," Chang said.
In October 2025, Alpine director and shareholder William MacKenzie was sentenced to four months' community detention for giving gifts to Gorham to act in the company's favour.
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