Former Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) manager Garry Gorham has been sentenced to six months’ home detention after accepting more than $258,000 in secret commissions from medical suppliers.
Gorham appeared in the Auckland District Court following his extradition from the United Kingdom in March 2025.
Judge Eddie Paul determined the sentence after accounting for the seven months Gorham spent in a UK prison and 18 months served on restrictive electronic bail. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had secured his return to New Zealand earlier this year after he failed to return from an approved trip while on bail.
In March, Gorham pleaded guilty to three charges of accepting secret commissions totaling $223,112 from Alpine Medical Hardware Limited and Device Technologies New Zealand Limited (DTNZ). He also admitted to a representative charge under the Crimes Act for the corrupt disclosure of official information, having received $35,428 from Newgate Technology Limited and Technology Solutions Industry (TSI) Limited.
Did You Know? During Gorham’s tenure managing the central sterile supply department from July 2007 to October 2016, Alpine Medical Hardware Limited saw its annual sales to the health board increase from approximately $52,000 to $400,000.
According to the SFO, Gorham’s influence over procurement decisions allowed him to secure personal payments while authorizing inflated invoices. In one instance, he helped place an order with a Pakistani company for $5,612.73, which Alpine then invoiced to the ADHB for $39,218.10. Gorham approved the invoice, resulting in a $22,369 payment to his personal bank account.
His involvement extended to software procurement, where he shared confidential request-for-proposal details and scoring assessments with Newgate Technology and TSI. This access ensured the companies won contracts, for which Gorham was paid $35,428. He also received $12,630 from DTNZ after sitting on a panel that prepared vendor requirements and co-wrote the report recommending the firm for a $1.7 million department refit.
SFO director Karen Chang said that the abuse of office reached beyond financial loss. “His actions risked undermining the trust in our public services,” Chang said. “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.”
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.
The Auckland District Health Board was disestablished and replaced by Te Whatu Ora in 2022.
Gorham pleaded guilty to three secret commission charges related to accepting payments from medical equipment suppliers and one representative charge under the Crimes Act for corruptly disclosing official information.
The SFO reported that the payments occurred while Gorham managed the central sterile supply department between July 2007 and October 2016.
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