The Serious Fraud Office (SFO;

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

: ''Te Tari Hara Tāware'') is the public service department of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

charged with detecting, investigating and prosecuting

financial crimes Financial crime is crime committed against property, involving the unlawful conversion of the ownership of property (belonging to one person) to one's own personal use and benefit. Financial crimes may involve fraud (cheque fraud, credit card frau ...

, including corruption, of a serious and complex nature. The SFO is New Zealand's lead law enforcement agency for investigating and prosecuting serious

financial crime Financial crime is crime committed against property, involving the unlawful conversion of the ownership of property (belonging to one person) to one's own personal use and benefit. Financial crimes may involve fraud (cheque fraud, credit card fr ...

, including

bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...

and corruption. The Auckland-based agency has about 50 employees of which 90 percent perform front-line activities. It has statutory independence as operational decisions are made without ministerial direction. The agency is based upon its UK counterpart as established by the Serious Fraud Office Act 1990. The SFO was established as a response to the collapse of the capital markets following the stock market crash in 1987.

Investigation procedures

Suspects questioned by the SFO have no right to silence and must answer questions and produce requested evidence, even if it incriminates them. However, evidence at an interview cannot be used against a suspect at his or her trial, unless he or she gives evidence which contradicts their SFO interview. Witnesses can also be required to answer questions under compulsion. Such interviews enable people with

confidentiality agreements A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract or part of a contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish ...

with clients to speak freely to the SFO without fear of retribution from their clients. These provisions do not override

legal professional privilege In common law jurisdictions, legal professional privilege protects all communications between a professional legal adviser (a solicitor, barrister or attorney) and his or her clients from being disclosed without the permission of the client. Th ...

. Anyone who refuses to comply can be prosecuted and could be fined or jailed. Prosecutions are extremely rare and no one has been jailed for this offence.

SFO directors

Since it was established in 1990, the Serious Fraud Office has had six directors. The following is a complete list:

SFO cases

Equiticorp This article discusses the responsibilities of the various agencies involved in combating corruption in New Zealand. New Zealand is regarded as having one of the lowest levels of corruption in the world. Agencies Serious Fraud Office The ...

– Founding director Allan Hawkins sentenced to six years' imprisonment in 1992 * Fortex – CEO Graeme Thompson and CFO Michael Mullen sentenced to imprisonment in 1994 * ACC – Former Auditor-General and ACC boss, Jeff Chapman, convicted of fraudulently using documents in 1997 * Otago DHB – CIO Michael Swann convicted of defrauding the DHB of nearly $17m and sentenced to nine years, six months' imprisonment in 2009 * Ross Asset Management – David Ross sentenced to 10 years, 10 months' imprisonment in 2013 *

South Canterbury Finance South Canterbury Finance was New Zealand's largest locally owned finance company when it collapsed in August 2010, triggering a $1.6 billion bail-out of investors deposits by the New Zealand Government; almost $1b was recovered by receivers. Histor ...

– Director and lawyer Edward Sullivan sentenced to home detention and community work in 2014 * Kang Huang and Others – Kang Huang sentenced to four years, seven months' imprisonment in 2018 for his part in a $54 million mortgage fraud

Proposal to replace the SFO

The Labour government announced in September 2007 that the SFO would be replaced by a new Organised Crime Agency. However, the bill to disband the SFO was delayed by the 2008 general election, and the new Prime Minister

John Key Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th prime minister of New Zealand, Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to ...

informed Parliament that the SFO would not be disbanded.

References

External links