FMA locates emails of support Samantha Barrass referenced when she resigned as CEO amid investigations. What do they say?

Detailed summary

Samantha Barrass resigned amid an investigation into her employment and a broader (ongoing) inquiry into workplace conduct and culture involving more than 50 current and former…

Former Financial Markets Authority chief executive Samantha Barrass received at least three emails of support before her resignation.

The Financial Markets Authority has found a few previously unlocatable messages of support its chief executive said she received before resigning in September.

Samantha Barrass resigned amid an investigation into her employment and a broader (ongoing) inquiry into workplace conduct and culture involving more than 50 current and former Financial Markets Authority (FMA) staff.

In a statement announcing Barrass’ resignation, the FMA quoted her saying: “The last few weeks have been very challenging for me, as I have found myself on the receiving end of allegations, and where I have had to take time out for them to be investigated.

“I won’t comment further on them at this stage. That’s for the MBIE [Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment] investigation process to get to the bottom of, and I trust it will do so.

“But I do wish to acknowledge those who have sent me messages of support, inside and outside of the FMA. It has been overwhelming.”

The Herald asked the FMA to release the referenced messages under the Official Information Act.

It responded, saying it had undertaken “reasonable searches” for the messages, but was unable to locate them.

“This may reflect that some or all of the messages were sent through channels outside the FMA’s systems, such as LinkedIn or personal text messages, and therefore are not held by the FMA,” it said.

Opening of the article, excerpted from NZ Herald. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.