Forestlands NZ Ltd

Forestlands NZ Ltd 160300

The SFO can confirm that an investigation relating to Forestlands NZ Ltd is ongoing.

Question and Answers

Question

The Financial Markets Authority referred some matters relating to the Forestlands NZ Ltd investigation to the Serious Fraud Office. Are you able to comment on what those issues are, whether they are still being investigated, or whether the SFO is still involved at all?

Answer

An investigation relating to Forestlands is ongoing. The SFO does not comment on the specifics of our investigations or inquiries including the likely timeframe.

Question

Forestlands investors are concerned by the apparent unwillingness of agencies involved to say anything, leaving them in the dark as to whether anything is happening and when a resolution will be forthcoming. Would you like to comment?

Answer

The role of the SFO is to investigate and prosecute serious financial crime. We are not involved with the settlement of the investors’ claims – that is an issue that falls outside our statutory mandate. 

There are a number of legal and practical reasons why the SFO does not provide the sort of commentary you seek. First, information relating to our inquiries and investigations is covered by strict secrecy provisions. There are some exceptions to these provisions including where the Director is satisfied a person requesting information has a proper interest in receiving such information. 

Secondly, disclosure of information relating to an ongoing investigation can seriously prejudice that investigation in a range of ways including alerting potential witnesses or persons of interest in the investigation as to the fact, progress and focus of the investigation. This in turn creates the opportunity for evidence to be tampered and witnesses to be influenced inappropriately. For these reasons, it is rarely the case that a person unconnected with an investigation is considered to have a proper interest in receiving information about an ongoing investigation.

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