The ‘tough on crime’ Government is forcing the Serious Fraud Office to cut funding and jobs, undermining the ability of the office to keep fighting white collar crime which impacts thousands of New Zealanders every year.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has had its funding cut by 3.5% and is proposing a net loss of six roles across its Strategy and Prevention, Forensic Services and Legal teams. This equates to around 7% of its workforce.

"Fraud is rising fast, yet the Government promised to be ‘tough on crime’ so this just doesn’t add up - fraud will only keep hurting more New Zealanders," said Duane Leo National Secretary for Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.

"The Government promised evidence-based decisions, but once again it’s ignoring the advice of its own experts. The SFO told the new Minister last November that ‘fraud and corruption increases during an economic downturn…History has also shown it is during these times that the SFO’s value is most acute.’ [1]

"The SFO also told the Minister that fraud and deception was the only offence type to see a significant increase year-on-year in the latest New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (June 2023). It’s the fastest growing crime type, impacting one in ten New Zealanders.

"These short-sighted cuts remove frontline roles, tasked with fraud prevention, and technical specialists whose expertise is needed to keep us one step ahead of increasingly sophisticated fraudsters.

"Specifically, why cut resources for the teams fighting cyber-enabled crime which the office knows is exploding globally and while like organisations overseas are investing more in these areas? Similarly, why cut roles in the legal team when its workload is increasing, and prosecutions are becoming more complex?

"These cuts will place all New Zealanders at risk. But this is par for the course from this government which also gutted the specialist teams at Internal Affairs tackling criminals targeting children online and promoting scams.

"At a time when technology is fast advancing, including AI, fraud is becoming harder to detect, this is the time to invest more, not less in battling fraud and corruption.

"The Office told the Minister it was already ‘lean and efficient’ so how can it properly do its important work in the face of these cuts?

"This Government has made a choice to put tax cuts for landlords, big tobacco and higher income earners ahead of protecting New Zealanders from powerful and smart criminals who threaten us."

[1] Serious Fraud Office briefing to incoming Minister November 2023

© Scoop Media