FENZ Minister Brooke van Velden questions CEO over withheld information

FENZ Minister Brooke van Velden says she no longer has confidence in the organisation's chief executive, following a "serious breach" of the 'no-surprises' clause."It is of a nature that is so significant that I no longer have confidence in the chief executive of Fire and Emergency or have confidence that the information I'm receiving is correct," said van Velden.She said chief executive Kerry Gregory withheld information from her for a "full year" on a matter of a "seriously significant incident". The matter had now been referred to the Serious Fraud Office.Van Velden said information had also potentially been withheld from the board.She couldn't provide detail on the issue, but said she became aware in the last fortnight that significant information had been withheld by the chief executive, "even after he received external advice telling him that he needed to let me know"."I immediately contacted the board chair, as well as the chief executive, to let him know that I have no longer any confidence in the chief executive."Having information of a significant nature withheld from me is not something I would expect of a senior official within the public service."She added it was a "serious breach of trust".Van Velden asked the board to meet "immediately to maintain or restore my confidence". The board will meet in the next few days.A scathing select committee report into FENZ recommended the government look at changing the organisation's board and whether it should be allowed to buy its own firetrucks.Van Velden said the report was disappointing reading, but also noted some of the recommendations were "things that I can't actually do as a minister"."I'm surprised that those recommendations are in there, because they're of such an operational matter that it would actually be a breach of the Crown Entities Act for me to be that involved."Van Velden emphasised the breach of confidence was a separate issue to the report.A FENZ spokesperson clarified to RNZ that the original incident, not Gregory, had been referred to the Serious Fraud Office."The matter referred to is historical, from prior to 2021, and relates to Fire and Emergency's administration of the levy scheme."Fire and Emergency has proactively referred the matter to the SFO and it is now with them to consider."