SFO Whangarei forex probe nears end

Photo / Hawkes Bay Today

The Serious Fraud Office is close to completing its investigation into a Whangarei-based foreign exchange company that is believed to have left investors hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket.

Last month the SFO began an investigation into CFX Trade Safe Limited, a Whangarei-based company that traded foreign currency on behalf of about 50 clients, including some in Whangarei.

The directors of the company are listed as Christopher John and Joy Eleanor Collecutt of Whangarei, and Maynard Michael Nathaniel Williams of North Shore.

The SFO said it was conducting a thorough financial analysis of the company to determine the value of the suspected major financial loss, thought to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A spokeswoman for the SFO said the investigation was well under way and the office was assessing the information available, analysing financial documentation and contacting investors to confirm the full scope of the matter.

"The SFO is confident that the investigation will be completed relatively quickly,'' she said.

The office is conducting a "part two'' investigation into the company, which means the SFO director has reasonable grounds to believe that an offence involving serious or complex fraud may have been committed.

"It appears that, at some point, the company suffered a major financial loss and we suspect that falsified documents may have been used in an attempt to hide this information from investors,'' SFO acting director Simon McArley said.

He said the SFO was alerted to the case last month after being contacted by an employee of CFX Trade Safe and the office was receiving full co-operation in the investigation from all parties involved.

"A financial analysis has already been commenced in order to determine the scale of the losses involved and number of people affected. The SFO is also working with the Companies Office, who are managing the recovery of assets from the company,'' McArley said.

Until the financial analysis is completed, it will not be known how much clients had invested with the company.

The SFO usually investigates only suspected fraud involving more than $2 million, unless there is deemed to be a matter of public interest as in this case.