A SERIES of blunders by officials and the state's crime watchdog allowed $16.6 million of taxpayers' money to fall into the hands of a Queensland Health employee who claimed he was a Tahitian prince.
One of the biggest mistakes was the failure to thoroughly investigate a tip-off in 2010 that Joel Morehu-Barlow would abscond to Paris to live a life of luxury after defrauding Queensland Health.
That email landed in the Crime and Misconduct Commissions's inbox 15 months before Barlow, a financial officer with the health department, took $11 million in a single transaction.
On Wednesday, the CMC conceded the handling of the complaint, received on August 5, 2010, had exposed a number of failures.
CMC Assistant Commissioner Kathleen Florian said investigations into the handling of the 2010 complaint revealed shortcomings in Queensland Health, Queensland Police and the crime commission.
Queensland police only conducted an Australian criminal check, despite the email stating Barlow was wanted in New Zealand.
The CMC had handballed the complaint to Queensland Health to deal with - but only on the day the email tip-off claimed Barlow was planning to skip the country.
Ms Florian said the CMC officer was right to refer the complaint to Queensland Health because it didn't allege the fraud was systematic or was being committed by a very senior officer.
"Where the CMC could improve was the timeliness of that referral," she told reporters on Wednesday.
"It was fortunate Mr Barlow did not in fact leave Australia for Paris."
Queensland Health also failed to thoroughly probe the claims made in the email.
The body's ethical standards unit contacted Barlow's then manager who advised there were no concerns about Barlow in the workplace and he had no opportunity to commit fraud.
The reality was Barlow had taken long absences from work and showered his colleagues with lavish gifts he told them he could afford because he was a member of the Tahitian royal family.
However the $11 million Barlow siphoned into a phantom health organisation in November 2011 was the red flag that couldn't be ignored.
In March, Barlow was sentenced to 14 years' jail over the $16.6 million fraud which occurred between 2007 and 2011.
The CMC's misconduct investigation found Barlow acted alone but some Queensland Health staff had inadvertently helped him.
The CMC report into the crime, tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, found enough evidence to substantiate 24 misconduct claims against nine Queensland Health officers, including Barlow.
One worker has already been sacked and Queensland Health Minister Lawrence Springborg says more may be given their marching orders.
However, some will remain in the public service.
Mr Springborg said two officers who had been exonerated would keep their jobs, while another three had been retrained.
He said a raft of changes had already been implemented to ensure a crime of similar scale could not occur again.
Three signatures are now required for any payments over $100,000, while crime checks for employees had been extended to include New Zealand, he said.
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