Legislation which provides the Serious Fraud Office with more powers to go after criminals has passed first reading in Parliament today, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Police Minister Mark Mitchell say.
“It’s estimated fraud in New Zealand results in billions of dollars in losses each year, and causes untold harm to countless hardworking New Zealanders and businesses,” Mr Goldsmith says.
“We know the scale and complexity of fraud is increasing. It challenges the ability of law enforcement to investigate and prosecute the fraudsters who commit these serious crimes.
“We must regularly update our laws to adapt to advances in technology and how fraud is committed. It’s our responsibility to ensure New Zealanders aren’t left vulnerable to gaps in the law.
“Our government has a clear priority to reduce the number of victims of violent crime, but we will never neglect the fight against so-called white-collar crime,” Mr Goldsmith says.
“Our government is committed to fixing the basics in law and order, and that means ensuring law enforcement agencies have the tools they need to hold criminals to account, and to prevent more New Zealanders from becoming victims of fraud and corruption,” Mr Mitchell says.
“Currently, the SFO can experience difficulties obtaining all electronic evidence, applying for warrant when under time-pressure, and managing their own search scenes.
“We need to ensure there is no red tape preventing the SFO from doing their job and protecting New Zealanders,” Mr Mitchell says.
The Bill makes changes to provide the Serious Fraud Office with the authority to:
- Obtain all necessary digital and cloud-based evidence they require.
- Apply for search warrants orally.
- Manage their own search sites and prevent affected parties from interfering with investigations.
The Bill also makes changes to the evidence admissibility provisions, to enable the Courts to apply the more modern and widely applied test in the Evidence Act 2006 to determine the admissibility of unlawfully obtained evidence.
It also makes it clear Police can use all of their usual powers under the Search and Surveillance Act 2012, when assisting the SFO to execute a warrant.