Bringing together the old and new

The New Zealand Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is hosting its second International Fraud and Corruption Conference this week at the Sky City Conference Centre in Auckland.

The New Zealand Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is hosting its second International Fraud and Corruption Conference this week at the Sky City Conference Centre in Auckland. 

Thursday 23 February will see the SFO ‘Bringing together the old and new’ through discussions with a variety of international guest speakers and reflections on the work of the SFO. Guests include the Director of the UK SFO, a human behaviour specialist, the president and founder of anti-bribery experts TRACE, an award-winning investigative journalist and representatives from the FBI and NCIS.  

The theme will illustrate that although fraud and corruption are not new crimes, today’s perpetrators are finding new ways to deceive and corrupt. The challenge for law enforcement, government and the business community is to stay one step ahead of the offenders by embracing new methods and technology to prevent, detect and prosecute those responsible. 

SFO Director, Julie Read, says that as the lead law enforcement agency for investigating and prosecuting serious or complex financial crime, including bribery and corruption, the SFO understands that in order to achieve excellent results and protect New Zealand’s reputation, it cannot work alone. 

“The SFO must enhance our connections with our partners here in New Zealand as well as overseas agencies in order to lead the understanding of financial crime, bribery and corruption in the private and public sectors. Our conference is an opportunity to do that. It will also be a source of education and advice to our attendees.  

We are delighted to be welcoming such a high calibre of international speakers. It promises to be a thought provoking and challenging day,” she said. 

ENDS

Issued by

Andrea Linton
Serious Fraud Office
027 705 4550

Note to editors

To purchase the few remaining tickets please visit this link.(external link)

Speaker information

Alexandra Wrage, Canada
Alexandra Wrage is president and founder of TRACE. She speaks frequently on topics of international law, anti-corruption initiatives and the hidden costs of corruption. Alexandra is a former member of FIFA’s Independent Governance Committee and served on the 2015 B20 Taskforce on Anti-Corruption. 

David Green CB QC, United Kingdom
David was appointed Director of the UK Serious Fraud Office in 2012 after a career that involved 25 years of prosecuting and defending at the Criminal Bar and was the first Director of Revenue and Customs Prosecutions. 

Michael Kelly, United States of America
Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) Michael P. Kelly manages the Economic Crimes Squad for the FBI’s Boston Field Office. In that role, he oversees investigations involving money laundering, financial institution and mortgage fraud, corporate and securities fraud, intellectual property rights violations and other complex financial crimes. SSA Kelly has been with the FBI for approximately 12 years, working exclusively on criminal matters. 

Kera Langlois, Singapore
Kera Langlois is a Special Agent with the United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) based in Singapore. 

Steve van Aperen, Australia
As an expert on human behaviour, Steve shows companies and government departments how to read and interpret micro expressions, distress signals and facial expressions. A person may be able to lie with words but their body language is much more overt. 

Nick McKenzie, Australia
Nick McKenzie is a leading Australian investigative newspaper and broadcast journalist. He has won Australia’s highest journalism award, the Walkley award, seven times for investigations spanning a diverse range of topics including corruption and integrity issues in public sector and policing agencies, the criminal justice system, corporate corruption and international bribery by large multinationals.

About the SFO

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was established in 1990 under the Serious Fraud Office Act. The SFO is the lead law enforcement agency for investigating and prosecuting serious or complex financial crime, including bribery and corruption.

The presence of an agency dedicated to white collar crime is integral to New Zealand’s reputation for transparency, integrity, fair-mindedness and low levels of corruption. This work contributes to a productive and prosperous New Zealand and the SFO’s collaborative efforts with international partners also reduce the serious harm that corrupt business practices do to the global economy.

The SFO has three operational teams; the Evaluation and Intelligence team along with two investigative teams.

The SFO operates under two sets of investigative powers.

Part 1 of the SFO Act provides that it may act where the Director “has reason to suspect that an investigation into the affairs of any person may disclose serious or complex fraud.”

Part 2 of the SFO Act provides the SFO with more extensive powers where: “…the Director has reasonable grounds to believe that an offence involving serious or complex fraud may have been committed…”

In considering whether a matter involves serious or complex fraud, the Director may, among other things, have regard to:

  • the suspected nature and consequences of the fraud and/or;
  • the suspected scale of the fraud and/or;
  • the legal, factual and evidential complexity of the matter and/or;
  • any relevant public interest considerations.

 The SFO’s Annual Report 2016 sets out its achievements for the past year, while the Statement of Intent 2014-2018 sets out the SFO’s strategic goals and performance standards. Both are available online at www.sfo.govt.nz(external link)

 The SFO Twitter feed is @FraudSeriousNZ(external link)