Memorandum
To:
Andrew Connelly – Chief Medical Officer Counties Manukau District
Vanessa Thornton - Interim District Director Counties Manukau District
s9(2)(a) - Acting Director People and Culture Counties Manukau District.
From:
s9(2)(a)
- Acting Director People and Culture Waikato
Date:
17 January 2022
Subject:
Review of appointment – Yuvaraj Krishnan
1.0 Background:
This report relates to the appointment of a Yuvaraj Krishnan to the position of Respiratory Research Fellow
in February 2022 and the employment case which followed.
Yuvaraj Krishnan was appointed to the position of Respiratory Research Fellow in February 2022 following
an internal recruitment process. He was unqualified for the position, and had carried out a number of
fraudulent activities throughout his recruitment and selection process, so lack of qualification was not
established at the time.
2.0 Introduction:
The report is in response to the ‘Terms of Reference for Investigation into employment of Yuvaraj
Krishnan’ dated 16 November 2022.
As the Adviser appointed under the above-mentioned Terms of Reference, I have carried out the
following discovery/investigation:
under The Official Information Act 1982
- Met withs9(2)(a)
(Service Manager), s9(2)(a)
(Clinical Head of Respiratory Medicine),
s9(2)(a)
(Clinical Director Medicine), s9(2)(a)
(Respiratory Physician), Andrew Connelly
(Chief Medical Officer), s9(2)(a)
(Recruitment Manager)
- Reviewed the interview notes, reference checks, CV and covering letter relating to the recruitment
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and selection process.
- Reviewed the Counties Manukau Recruitment and Selection Policy and reference checking guide.
- Contacted the Northern Regional Alliance RMO unit regarding aspects of their selection process.
3.0 Discussion:
Please note that the structure of this section is based upon the issues for consideration laid out in section
3a of the Terms of Reference;
- The process of verifying documentation provided by Mr Krishnan;
- The process of confirming Mr Krishnan’s references;
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- Whether the position of Respiratory Research Fellow would have been more appropriately
recruited through the Northern Region Alliance RMO appointment process.
3.1 Process of verifying documentation provided by Mr Krishnan
In hindsight, there were a number of fraudulent activities which were not identified when verifying
documentation provided by Mr Krishnan. These included:
3.1.1
CV verification – general.
There were numerous false statements in Mr Krishnan’s CV – for example Mr Krishnan stated that he was
a Medical Officer when at Auckland Regional Public Health Service. This would have required an Annual
Practicing Certificate (APC), yet Mr Krishan did not have one on the basis of his own account – when
applying for the Respiratory Research Fellow role he claimed to have recently passed his NZ Rex exams.
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Thus, his claimed qualification timeline does not align with his claimed work responsibilities at Auckland
Regional Public Health Service.
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Further, his CV stated that he was attending University of Sydney 2014 - 2016, yet his false University of
Sydney Degree states that he graduated in 2014. The dates do not align.
3.1.2
Qualification verification. At face value, qualifications provided by Mr Krishan appeared to be genuine, and they passed through the
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recruitment and selection process at multiple points and through multiple parties.
Given the relative simplicity of obtaining a fraudulent academic qualification in the modern, digital world, it is
recommended that where a position requires a stipulated qualification, this is verified through a suitable
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third party e.g. through My eQuals for a New Zealand or Australian University. It is recommended this is
undertaken by the transaction processing support function within People and Culture (P&C) e.g. District
P&C Operations Team. This could be undertaken through a national contract if a third party supplier.
The
In meeting with him as part of this investigation, s9(2)(a)
– Respiratory Physician commented (on
making observations about Mr Krishnan’s performance at work) “I thought he didn’t know as much as he
should do. He knew enough that I didn’t think he was a fraud.
We just don’t think like that”. It is entirely
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understandable that managers don’t think in this way, particularly once a person is employed, however a
more ‘suspicious mind-set’ and attention to detail through the general CV verification and qualification
checks would have been important here.
If they don’t currently do so, it is recommended that the Recruiting for Results/HR master class sessions
referred to in the Recruitment Policy should cover the importance of having a ‘suspicious mind-set’ through
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CV and qualification checking and cross referencing material provided e.g. dates, jobs with referee titles,
verifying referees through desktop research. In busy roles, it is easy to ‘gloss over’ sensory information
provided in a CV, and that appears to have happened here.
3.1.3
Registration/APC qualification
The role of Respiratory Research Fellow required an APC. When Mr Krishnan had not procured one and
this was followed up, he produced a fraudulent email from the Medical Council of NZ (MCNZ). Given that
the hiring manager had experienced delays with another employee, from the Netherlands, the logic
provided by Mr Krishnan also followed. He did then produce a fraudulent APC (2, with different numbers in
order to address an issue rightly raised with him). This appeared valid.
The fraudulent email from MCNZ regarding the forthcoming APC was somewhat unusual, however given
the email address etc., it was given credibility.
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It is recommended that to avoid any risk of this fraudulent activity reoccurring, the MCNZ (in this case, for a
Doctor) register of Doctors is checked, and the validity of the APC confirmed online in this way. In interview,
both the hiring manager and the Clinical Head of Respiratory said they check every candidate Doctor’s
registration on the MCNZ website now, but are unsure whose role it is. The Recruitment Policy provides
that it is the hiring manager’s job to do VCA and other pre-employment checks. The policy does not say
how this should be done i.e. online registration check. It is recommended the policy is updated to stipulate
this, given that emails and documents can be fraudulent.
It is recommended that managers are reminded that they need to read and understand organisational
policies so they understand their current responsibilities therein.
3.2
Process of confirming Mr Krishnan’s references
The MBIE reference related to a historic role (approximately six years prior) which was not at a comparable
level to the role Mr Krishnan was being considered for. The Counties Manukau Reference Checking Guide
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states that “ask for references that preferably cover the position they have applied for. These references
are only valid for a few years. References that are more than 6 years old make it difficult to validate job
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related information”. In this instance, the reference was six years old and not at near the same level as the
position Mr Krishnan had applied for.
Another referee provided on Mr Krishnan’s CV was not called, yet this was a fraudulent referee and
telephone number and related to an organisation (Mc Master University – Canada) Mr Krishnan had not
claimed to work or study with, so he should have been asked why he had a referee from that organisation
and what it was in relation to. Additionally, had that person been called, it is possible that the fraud could
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have been identified.
A referee who was called, a Dr Geoff Masterton, was a fake referee. There is no Dr Geoff Masterton
registered as a Doctor in New Zealand. A check on Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) Register of
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Doctors (MCNZ website) would have established this. To carry out that check (of a referee) requires a
somewhat suspicious mind, but justifiably so in this instance. It is a zero cost, thirty-second check, so the
potential ‘pay off’ in identifying fraud is considerable.
The
It is therefore recommended that where the name of a registered medical professional is provided as a
referee, that person’s professional status is confirmed online by the hiring manager responsible for the
reference check. This would apply to all registered professional referees (e.g. Dr, nurse).
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According to the Recruitment Manager, clinical reference checks are normally done by an applicable
clinical professional. This was not the case with this appointment. An applicable clinical professional could
ask probing questions relating to technical skills, experience and ability, which would ascertain not only
performance and development more accurately, but also have a higher chance of identifying any fraud.
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3.3 Northern Regional Alliance (NRA) RMO appointment process.
It is possible that having this recruitment go through the RMO Workforce Operations team for Te Whatu
Ora Northern Region (previously NRA) process may have addressed this issue. The Adviser has confirmed
with the RMO Workforce Operations team) checks the MCNZ Register of Doctors before an offer is made,
which should have identified this fraud before the offer was made. They also independently verify academic
qualifications as part of the selection process. It is recommended this practice is adopted by the People and
Culture team of Counties Manukau.
Please note that the RMO Workforce Operations team for Te Whatu Ora Northern Region could also have
missed the false statements in Mr Krishnan’s CV and that one of the referees was an imposter.
It is the view of the Advisor that the issues identified in this process can be addressed through some
process developments and a greater level of scrutiny being applied, rather than necessarily having to move
the recruitment of clinical research roles to the RMO Workforce Operations team for Te Whatu Ora
Northern Region or another body.
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4.0 Summary of Recommendations:
4.1 Where a position requires a stipulated qualification, this is verified through a suitable third party, e.g.
through My eQuals for a New Zealand or Australian University. It is recommended this is undertaken by the
transaction processing support function within People and Culture (P&C) e.g. District P&C Operations
Team.
This could be undertaken through a national contract with a third party supplier.
4.2 The Recruiting for Results/HR master class sessions referred to in the Recruitment Policy should cover
the importance of having a ‘suspicious mind-set’ through CV and qualification checking and cross
referencing material provided e.g. dates, jobs with referee titles, verifying referees through desktop
research.
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4.3 The Recruitment Policy is updated to require that hiring managers check the MCNZ (in this case, for a
Doctor) register of Doctors for registration, and the validity of the APC confirmed online before any offers
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are made.
4.4 Where the name of a registered medical professional is provided as a referee, that person’s
professional status is confirmed online by the hiring manager responsible for the reference check. This
would apply to all registered professional referees (e.g. Dr, nurse).
4.5 That managers are reminded (say, annually) that they need to read and understand organisational
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policies so they are fully aware of and understand their current responsibilities therein.
Official
The
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