The Serious Fraud Office (SFO; Māori: Te Tari Hara Tāware) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with detecting, investigating and prosecuting financial crimes, 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, including bribery 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.[3] 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 with clients to speak freely to the SFO without fear of retribution from their clients. These provisions do not override legal professional privilege.[4] 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.[5]
History
When set up under the Serious Fraud Office Act 1990, the responsible minister was the Attorney-General.[6]
In 2008, ministerial responsibility was transferred from the Attorney-General to the Minister of Police, to avoid a potential conflict of interest in the Attorney-General's roles.[6]
SFO directors
Since it was established in 1990, the Serious Fraud Office has had six directors. The following is a complete list:[9]
Name
Portrait
Term of office
1
Charles Sturt
1990–1997
2
David Bradshaw
1997–2007
3
Grant Liddell
2007–2009
4
Adam Feeley
2009–2012
5
Julie Read
2013–2022
6
Karen Chang
2022–present
SFO cases
Equiticorp – Founding director Allan Hawkins [10] 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 – 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
Bryan Bruce's 1995 documentary, Serious Fraud,[11] examined the SFO's investigations into white collar crime within New Zealand, and focused on three cases: Allan Hawkins,[12] Roger Curtis and Patrick Renshaw.[13]
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