The Serious Fraud Office has also recently secured convictions against 18 company directors and officials from eight finance companies that faltered or failed after the 2008 global financial crisis…. [The Companies Office National Enforcement Unit also secured many convictions against company directors for breaches of the Companies Act 1993, Financial Reporting Act 1993 etc over this period].
In politics, one lawmaker, John Banks, is on trial, fighting allegations he failed to properly report donations. Another, Maurice Williamson, recently resigned his ministerial portfolios after acknowledging he improperly contacted police about their investigation into an associate and party donor who was facing assault charges.
In business, the Serious Fraud Office is investigating kiwifruit exporter Zespri, after a subsidiary company and an independent distributor in China were each found guilty of smuggling, for underreporting imports and avoiding millions of dollars in duties.
Transparency International uses expert opinion and polling to compile its annual Corruption Perception Index, which scores each nation on its perceived level of public-sector corruption.
Suzanne Snively, who chairs the watchdog group’s New Zealand chapter, said the scandals could affect how New Zealand is perceived and ranked. But she added that the allegations are less important than the systems in place to fight corruption.
She said New Zealand appears to have been proactive by, for instance, introducing new anti-corruption rules in sports.
Snively said it recently completed a study of New Zealand’s integrity systems.
“The evidence we collected showed that, on balance, it deserves its reputation and has strong views on corruption and strong integrity.
“The underlying problem we found, though, was there’s an awful lot of complacency. Perhaps the CPI measure, over the years, has made people think, ‘We don’t really need to work hard at this’.”
See full story by Nick Perry. Published 29/05/14
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/10096613/Scandals-tarnish-NZs-corrupt-free-image
Note:
The Society for Promotion of Community Standards Inc. (“SPCS”) has been approved bronze level membership status in Transparency International (New Zealand) Inc. (TINZ) – the recognised New Zealand representative of Transparency International, the global civil society organisation against corruption. SPCS was approved “bronze level”, along with other new members (including the Earthquake Commission), at the TINZ Annual General Meeting held at Archives New Zealand on the 19th of November, 2013. Like SPCS, TINZ, is a registered charity (Charity No. CC2305) which was registered on 30 June 2008.
See: https://www.spcs.org.nz/spcs-approved-as-member-of-transparency-international-new-zealand/
Also see SPCS Consitution (available www.charities.govt.nz – Charity No. CC20268)
S. 2 (d) of Constitution states: “To focus attention on the harmful nature and consequences of sexual promiscuity, obscenity, pornography, violence, fraud, dishonesty in business, expoitation, abuse of alcohol and drugs, and other forms of moral corruption.”
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