SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Slavery at sea exposed – Sunday Star Times

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Alerted to terrible conditions on foreign-crewed fishing vessels after nearly 30 people lost their lives, Michael Field began asking questions. [It appears from his research that New Zealand government officials have been turning a blind eye to moral corruption and human rights abuses in the fishing industry for years… read on].

SECRET PAPERS obtained under the Official Information Act reveal the government has allowed fishermen from poor countries to be exploited in New Zealand waters. New Zealand officials have long been aware of the slave labour and conditions but there have been no prosecutions…. Workers are fishing in rusting boats turned into high seas sweatshops that take large parts of the country’s $1.4 billion-a-year catch.

The government papers reveal that thousands of men from poor areas are beaten and forced to work for days without rest, earning between $260 and $460 a month before paying much of it over to “agents”. Chief executive of Nelson’s Talley’s Fisheries, Peter Peter Talley, said the government knew what was happening but had responded only by setting basic standards for onboard observers. “They do not care about the Filipinos, Indonesians and Ukrainians on the vessels.”

Full story: Slavery at sea exposed by Michael Field. Sunday Star Times, 3 April 2011. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4841777/Slavery-at-sea-exposed

Should registered charities lodge complaints about fraud and non-compliance?

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Police spokesperson Jon Neilson has told The Wellingtonian (24 March) that police would investigate complaints from the public about scams, including those targeting potential donors to Christchurch earthquake appeals, if there was sufficient evidence. The Chief executive of the New Zealand Red Cross, John Ware, has been quoted as having evidence that “scammers are trying to take advantage of the public’s generosity at this devastating time”, using online scams and setting up insecure websites that illegally seek to harvest details of potential donors’ credit card and bank accounts and other personal information.

But is it legitimate for any registered charity to lodge formal complaints with enforcement agencies such as the police when evidence comes to light of possible criminal activities? How can such complaints be justified within the humanitarian, philanthropic, public service objectives of a registered charity such as NZ Red Cross or The Salvation Army for example?

Of course it is legitimate and fully justified for any charity to lodge formal complaints when evidence of scams, lack of legal compliance, money-laundering, or any criminal activity comes to light in the course of its own activities. In fact charities have a social responsibility to do so because such scams are “injurious to the public good”. The financial cost of white collar crime alone in New Zealand has been estimated to be about one billion dollars per year, according to the latest KPMG fraud barometer survey. [Read more…]

Surge in Fraud points to huge cost

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Serious Fraud Office boss Adam Feeley has warned that a new report showing a surge in the value of fraud convictions is only scratching the surface of the true cost of financial crime in New Zealand. The latest KPMG fraud barometer showed that the value of fraud convictions in New Zealand in 2010 was more than $172 million, more than the value for 2008 and 2009 combined….

Mr Feeley said the KPMG study prompted discussion about financial fraud, but did not give a true indication of the true level of fraud being committed. “I think we are, and it’s a terrible cliche, really only beginning to cratch the surface of financial crime in New Zealand.”

Stephen Bell, head of forensics at KPMG, said … it was difficult to assess the true extent of fraud in New Zealand, although a 2010 KPMG survey showed companies believed only one third of frauds were being detected, and with lower level fraud excluded from the survey, it was possible the problem could be worth more than $1 billion a year.

Full story: BusinessDay.co.nz Hamish Rutherford, 28 March 2011 http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/4815448/Surge-in-fraud-points-to-huge-cost

Note:  The Society (SPCS) as part of its Constitution, seeks “To focus attention on the harmful nature and consequences of  …. fraud, dishonesty in business  and other forms of moral corruption.” Section 2(d)

Disgraced company director jailed for defying order

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How can good community standards be upheld if an order imposed by an enforcement agency is knowingly and deliberately flouted? One company director with a high profile, now disgraced, and whose company owes thousands of dollars to creditors, has learnt the hard way. He is heading off to jail for one month as punishment for failing to comply with such an order.

For full story see: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10714976&ref=rss