The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has announced a shake up of the organisation following its minister expressing displeasure at its performance.The restructuring followed a review and would not lead to job losses, SFO chief executive Adam Feeley said.Under t
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has announced a shake up of the organisation following its minister expressing displeasure at its performance.
The restructuring followed a review and would not lead to job losses, SFO chief executive Adam Feeley said.
Under the changes, specialist investigation teams would be formed for corporate and markets fraud and bribery, corruption and police linked cases.
Three management positions would be disestablished and five new management positions created.
Mr Feeley said he would be hiring additional legal, accounting and investigative staff to build the SFO back up to its establishment numbers.
"The new structure will enable much greater inter-agency collaboration, a more flexible approach to major investigations with reliance on external resources where appropriate, and a faster, more responsive approach to investigations," Mr Feeley said.
The minister responsible for the SFO, Judith Collins, recently said it had suffered from years of political neglect and recent experiences had shown rules designed to protect investor interests were not up to scratch.
"I can't help but think how many investors might still have their life savings today if business regulations had been more robust and the SFO had been well supported, well resourced and backed politically over the past decade," she said in a speech to a business audience in Auckland in February.
The previous government had intended merging it with the police, but National stopped the move when it won the 2008 election.
Ms Collins said the Government was strongly supporting the SFO as it rebuilt its capabilities.
"There is no place for cowboys when it comes to people's savings...investors must have the confidence that their money will be safe in the productive sector."
Mr Feeley said the SFO had been set some challenging goals and the reorganisation was a starting point for achieving those.
