$8.3m for fight against serious fraud

The Government has allocated more than $8 million in funding for the Serious Fraud Office over two years to continue the fight against white collar crime, the Minister Responsible for the SFO Judith Collins says.

“The SFO has an important role to play in maintaining New Zealand’s reputation as a safe place to invest and do business,” Ms Collins says.

“A total of $8.3 million across 2010/11 and 2011/12 will enable the SFO to undertake an increased number of investigations and prosecutions of serious fraud.”

In 2010, the SFO opened 27 investigations, including a number of investigations into finance companies.

The cases investigated during that time had involved losses of more than $1.5 billion, affecting about 115,000 victims – many of whom were investors.

“The SFO has laid more than 800 charges against 26 peoplein the last 12 months. Several white collar criminals are now behind bars,” Ms Collins says.

During the past year, the SFO has cleared a backlog of cases, including investigations lasting up to seven years. The average length of a case is now six months.