stunning recklessness, excess and greeed

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NEWS

Three years after the Global Financial Crisis picked up speed, New Zealand looks pretty soft on corporate crime. 

"The recklessness, excesses and greed have been stunning. But, until Five Star directors Nicholas Kirk and Marcus MacDonald were this week jailed for lying to investors, not a single finance company executive had spent a single night behind bars."

Bernard Hickey is Managing Editor of business news site, Interest, one of the few commentators offering criticism of efforts against fraud and other white collar crime that makes up the bulk of cases in New Zealand

LINK: 

Bernard Hickey: Hotchin deserves all the heat

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Wong inquiry 'not warranted' - AG - National - NZ Herald News

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NEWS

New Zealand's Auditor-General Lyn Provost says she will not investigate alleged abuse of a Parliamentary travel perk by former minister Pansy Wong.

"It will do more 'public good' for Government to adopt the recommendations of a report tabled today on improving serious flaws in the entire ministerial spending system, she says."

Left unsaid was any word on whether conflicts of interest in promoting her husband's private business constitute corruption. Or whether they profited from that conflict of interest.

The AG's decision compares with a six year sentence given to one of only a few Polynesian MPs, Phillip Taito Field, after he got an Asian immigrant to tile a property of his, in Samoa.

LINK

Wong inquiry 'not warranted' - Attorney General

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Update 100-year-old law, says SFO - National - NZ Herald News

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NEWS

Slated for dismantling under the previous Labour government, the New Zealand Serious Fraud Office is taking aim at corruption laws up to a century old.

"The Serious Fraud Office is signalling a greater focus on bribery and corruption and has asked the Government to review legislation dealing with such crimes, some of which is a century old" reports the New Zealand Herald.

They quote Feeley as saying their latest case exposes widespread shortcomings in New Zealand.

"There have been wider, and serious, issues raised by this investigation, including procurement processes in the public sector, the process for referring corruption allegations to law enforcement agencies, and the scope of New Zealand's bribery laws," Feeley told the daily.

LINK

Update 100-year-old law, says SFO

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