A former boss of Queensland's biggest public hospital service is facing corruption charges in court after an alleged nepotism scandal involving his daughter.
Ex-Metro North Hospital and Health Service chief executive Malcolm Frederick Stamp, 69, flew in from the United Kingdom to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday, four years after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Scott McMullen - a former Queensland Health executive - told the committal hearing that Stamp encouraged him to "get a role" for the daughter in 2014.
He said Stamp even told him to offer incentives to a Metro North consultant to hire her for a media and communication services job on a taxpayer-funded contract.
It is alleged the daughter's job had an annual salary of $80,000.
But McMullen was repeatedly accused of lying by defence barrister Saul Holt on Tuesday.
McMullen - Metro North's former director of corporate services - received a wholly suspended two-year jail term in 2019 after also being charged following a lengthy investigation by Queensland's corruption watchdog into the alleged nepotism scandal.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of secret commission offences in Brisbane District Court three years ago, having tried to cover up what happened with false statements and documents.
McMullen said on Tuesday he "felt uncomfortable" after speaking to Stamp and organising the job for the daughter, sparking a fiery response from Mr Holt.
"Can you even recall the lies that you have told over the course of this whole investigation?" Mr Holt said.
"It is time to tell the truth about this. The (daughter's) role was entirely your initiative wasn't it?"
McMullen responded: "No, I had talked to Malcolm about ... how we can get a role for (the daughter) and one of the discussions was we can create a role."
Mr Holt continued to grill him under cross-examination after McMullen admitted he had misled investigators in his original statement compared to what he later told the Crime and Corruption Commission.
"I had discussed it (creating a job) with Malcolm as a way of (the daughter) getting involved," McMullen said.
Mr Holt interjected: "Can we just be really clear about this, that's just nonsense isn't it? Complete unmitigated nonsense."
"No, no," McMullen replied.
After the job was created, McMullen said he changed the daughter's name on her Metro North email address in a bid to discourage a connection with Stamp.
"I didn't want her to have a hard time," he said.
Stamp was suspended from the health service in 2014 and his employment later terminated the following year.
He is facing a committal hearing on three charges, including corruptly soliciting valuable consideration to influence favour.
The hearing, which is expected to last more than a week, continues.
