Letter from NZ Solicitor-General refusing to grant leave for the private prosecution by Graham McCready of Auckland Mayor Len Brown, for alleged bribery and corruption: pennybright4mayor.org.nz/nz-solicitor-general-refuses-to-give-leave-for-private-prosecution-vs-mayor-len-brown-for-alleged-bribery-and-corruption/ _____________________________________________________________ ADDITIONAL COMMENTS MADE BY PENNY BRIGHT /LISA PRAGER Please note that the NZ Serious Fraud Office did NOT deal with the complaint made by myself and Lisa Prager against Auckland Mayor Len Brown as a bribery and corruption complaint, but as a serious and complex fraud complaint, although they purport to be the lead agency to whom bribery and corruption complaints should be made: pennybright4mayor.org.nz/nz-serious-fraud-office-choose-not-to-re-evaluate-our-bribery-and-corruption-complaint/ ... “In making a decision to commence a Part 1 or Part 2 investigation the Director of the SFO is obliged to be satisfied of the statutory preconditions for the exercise of those powers set out in the Serious Fraud Office Act. ” As you are no doubt aware, as General Counsel, the underpinning Serious Fraud Act 1990, makes no mention whatsoever of the words ‘bribery or corruption’, it only covers ‘serious or complex fraud’: legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0051/latest/DLM210990.html#DLM210995 Part 1 Detection of serious or complex fraud 4Exercise of powers under this Part 5Power to require production of documents 6Power to obtain search warrant Part 2 Investigation of suspected offences involving serious or complex fraud 7Exercise of powers under this Part 8Factors to which Director may have regard 9Power to require attendance before Director, production of documents, etc 10Power to obtain search warrant 11Power to assume from Police the responsibility for investigating certain cases of fraud It is the ’Memorandum of Understanding’ between the Police and SFO (which is not based in statute), signed by the former Director of the SFO, Adam Feeley and Police Commissioner Peter Marshall on 29 September 2011, (pd 19) ‘Schedule 6 – Bribery and Corruption’, which sets out how bribery and corruption offences should be handled: sfo.govt.nz/f232,17638/MOU_NZ_Police_and_SFO.pdf ” Schedule 6 – Bribery and Corruption 1. This Schedule outlines the processes for reporting and enforcing corruption and bribery offences. These processes are to be adopted by the SFO and the Police to ensure there is a consistent approach to corruption reporting, investigation and enforcement in New Zealand. 2. This Schedule has been developed to assist New Zealand’s compliance with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Officials in International Business Transactions, and to support ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. Referral process 3. All bribery and corruption offences are to be referred to the SFO, who will act as a ‘single window’ for bribery and corruption reports. …………….. 10. Corruption allegations are to be thoroughly investigated by the appropriate law enforcement agency in line with that agency’s policies and procedures. Where the report involves or originates from another government agency, that agency should be represented as much as appropriate. 11. Specific corruption offences are found in the Crimes Act 1961 and the Secret Commissions Act 1910. Communication 12. The SFO’s point of contact for referrals of bribery and corruption cases is the SFO Liaison Officer. The SFO’s point of contact in regards to the joint assessment of reports is the General Manager Fraud Detection and Intelligence. 13. Police’s point of contact for bribery and corruption cases is the Assistant Commissioner Investigations and International or his nominee. _____________________________________________________________ Lisa Prager and myself consider that the NZ Serious Fraud Office has not dealt with our ‘bribery and corruption’ complaint ( your reference: C 3592 ) against Auckland Mayor Len Brown and Sky City in the proper way, as outlined in the above-mentioned ‘Memorandum of Understanding between the Police and SFO’. Our original complaint (dated 22 November 2013), was dealt with as a ‘serious and complex fraud’ complaint – when it was clearly a ‘bribery and corruption’ complaint. It is our considered opinion, that New Zealand urgently needs a genuinely ‘Independent Commission Against Corruption’, tasked with preventing corruption; carrying out anti-corruption educational activity, and detecting and investigating corruption cases. In the meantime, it appears that the NZ Serious Fraud Act 1990, needs urgent updating to incorporate the responsibilities for reporting, investigating and enforcing bribery and corruption offences, as outlined in the above-mentioned ‘Memorandum of Understanding between the Police and SFO, Schedule 6 – Bribery and Corruption’. ................... _____________________________________________________________ Please be advised that we are considering taking our bribery and corruption complaint against Auckland Mayor Len Brown to Auckland Central Police, given the failure of the NZ Serious Fraud Office to treat it as such, and for the NZ Solicitor-General to subsequently rely on this decision, which we believe is fundamentally flawed. We expect justice to be done and be seen to be done, and the rule of law to prevail. Penny Bright .............. Lisa Prager ................
Posted on: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 22:27:33 +0000
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