Election 2020: Serious Fraud Office budget would double with national policy

National would double the budget of the Office of Serious Fraud to investigate more cases of fraud, bribery and corruption, and said the watchdog is “going around together with six cases a year.”

“The SFO takes very few prosecutions, not because there is no fraud, bribery and corruption in New Zealand, but because the office does not have the resources to do its job properly,” said national leader Judith Collins in a speech this morning. with her former employer, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, in Auckland.

“The office needs more researchers and more resources to work with its national and international counterparts.

“We will not stand by and allow an entity with the powers of the Serious Fraud Office to be allowed to continually wander, say, along with six cases a year. We hope for better. We do not blame the Serious Fraud Office, Blame it on those who have chosen not to give them the budget they deserve ”.

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National has pledged to double SFO’s budget from $ 12.7 million a year to $ 25 million, and would change it to “Serious Fraud and Anti-Corruption Agency,” which Collins clarified that the focus was not just on white collar crimes. involving private companies.

“The mandate and focus of the office go well beyond the world of investment, accounting and banking. It also addresses fraud, bribery and corruption in local government, community entities and iwi trusts.”

The OFS has launched a series of recent investigations into political giving, with the activities of National, Labor and NZ First under the microscope.

The office had previously indicated that it would decide before the election whether to press charges related to the NZ First Foundation, but Collins said his announcement had nothing to do with it.

He had no evidence or indications of undetected corruption in the central or local government, but said that huge amounts of money were at stake in the form of contracts for infrastructure projects.

The SFO had previously taken successful prosecutions for corruption and bribery related to Auckland Transport’s maintenance and renewal contracts, for example. Last year, the bureau warned that it expected up to 5 percent of government funds to be obtained or used fraudulently.

“There is definitely corruption, I suspect, in some of the hires that have occurred – we’ve seen it over the years,” Collins said. “And these are the kinds of contracts, with infrastructure projects in particular, that people need to know that someone can actually take some action.”

Collins indicated that the announced budget increase would be only the first under a national government.

Lack of resources meant that the OFS “played a secondary role” compared to other agencies, including the police’s financial intelligence unit, and took very few prosecutions, the national leader said. The office’s own annual report noted that its limited resources meant it focused on cases that could significantly affect sectors of the economy or the public.

“The SFO has statutory powers that other New Zealand crime fighting agencies do not have, including powers to compel the production of information and to require witnesses and suspects to answer any questions put to them without the right to remain silent. But these powers are not being given enough opportunity to be used.

“The Serious Fraud Office has had what is sometimes known as a checkered past. But actually, I don’t think it has had a checkered past, it has had a checkered amount of support from various political and political parties.

New Zealand consistently ranks as one of the least corrupt countries in the world. Transparency International’s 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index gave New Zealand an 87 out of 100 mark, tied first with Denmark out of 180 countries.

However, Collins suggested that such classifications were flawed and said that our geographic isolation no longer provided the protection it used to, due to the growth of communication technologies.

“Corruption rankings are largely based on perceptions. In the case of New Zealand, this is partly due to the relatively small number of verified cases of serious fraud, bribery and corruption that we uncovered. In a way, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, if not If you search for something, you are unlikely to find it.

“The SFO says that the threats to our reputation as a relatively corruption-free country ‘have probably never been greater today than at any other time in our history.’ National agrees and we will provide the necessary resources for the office to do the work New Zealanders expect it to do. “

Collins said he had considered the policy of establishing a separate anti-corruption unit, but believed it would be difficult to get the legislation through Parliament, given the broad powers the OFS already has.

When Transparency International released its 2019 corruption rankings in January, the organization’s New Zealand president, Suzanne Snively, said that our score could be improved by strengthening organizations like the SFO.

At the time, Justice Minister Andrew Little said they were discussing whether the OFS had enough power.

“We have to ask ourselves if the mandate of that office is sufficient, if we should look for a team that has a broader mandate of that position far enough away. Whether or not we should look for a team that has a broad mandate to deal with all forms of corruption, not just financial issues, “he said.

“There is more we can be doing and looking to do.”

The Herald has previously reported concerns from high-level business and legal figures about the decline in the number of prosecutions initiated by the office.

Collins was once responsible minister for the OFS, but resigned from that and other ministerial portfolios in the run-up to the 2014 elections, after an email surfaced that appeared to link her to a blogging campaign to undermine the former head of the OFS , Adam Feeley.

Then Prime Minister John Key launched an investigation, which found that while Collins had provided information about Feeley to WhaleOil blogger Cameron Slater, “there was nothing inappropriate in supplying this information.” Collins was later reinstated in Key’s cabinet.