The former head of Fraser Health has resigned amid a scandal involving personal spending following his move from British Columbia to New Zealand.

After seven years in charge of Fraser Health, Dr. Nigel Murray left in 2014 to move back to New Zealand, where he took a new job as head of the Waikato District Health Board in Hamilton, 130 km south of Auckland.

Murray鈥檚 new job paid him about $525,000 per year, but the New Zealand Herald reported last December that Murray had claimed more than $100,000 in travel expenses, including $36,000 to relocate from B.C. Of that money, the Herald reported $10,000 came because Murray left Fraser Health 鈥渆arlier than expected.鈥�

An followed that revealed that Murray spent 鈥渕ore than the agreed $25,000 (NZD) allocated for relocation costs, and other unauthorized expenses involving potential financial breaches of the chief executive鈥檚 obligations.鈥�

Murray鈥檚 resignation was accompanied by a promise to repay 鈥渁ll outstanding amounts.鈥� He has been on leave since mid-July.

Read the New Zealand Herald story here.

His resignation follows months of scrutiny into Murray鈥檚 spending in New Zealand, and past at Fraser Health and the New Zealand health district he worked at before moving to Canada.

In August, New Zealand news outlets reported that the Waikato board had been warned by doctors not to hire Murray, citing a 鈥渓egacy 鈥� of disgruntlement, unhappiness, frustration鈥� when he was working at another New Zealand health district. The chair of the health district, though, said such concerns were acknowledged and checked with Canadian health officials.

CAD over an 18 month-span in 2008 and 2009, before later pledging to reduce travel costs. Murray was making $444,000 a year when he left Fraser Health; the current CEO, Michael Marchbank, made $390,089 last year.

During Murray鈥檚 tenure, Fraser Health also came under fire for failing to meet its budget, which climbed by nearly 50 per cent, triggering a review initiated by the provincial government.