The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the New Zealand Police, formalising an already existing close relationship between the two agencies.
Police Minister Judith Collins, who is also responsible for SFO, said that the initiative set out ways in which the Police and SFO could work together to fight against financial crime.
SFO Chief Executive Adam Feeley said his Office has been collaborating with the Police for some time and that the MOU would build on that foundation.
“A number of recent cases have highlighted the even greater impact that we can have on financial crime when we combine our skills, knowledge and resources.
“The introduction of Police secondments to SFO has been an enormous help to managing our workload and staff from both agencies have been able to share valuable skills and experience,” he said.
Mr Feeley said the SFO would continue to assign its forensic accountants to joint investigations, which would help achieve good results in those cases.
“The MOU marks a positive step forward by both agencies,” he said.
