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One criticism often heard about fraud cases is that there is not enough co-operation between government agencies.
In fact, former Serious Fraud Office head David Bradshaw insists, there is more co-operation behind the scenes than the public seems to realise.
For example, the Securities Commission and the
SFO worked closely together on the Papple case, which resulted in a Rotorua couple being jailed for a scam that took millions from people in the Bay of Plenty, he says.
The SFO also helped the commission on the Tranz Rail insider trading case, which resulted in Sir Michael Fay and David Richwhite agreeing to hand over $20 million, despite no admissions of guilt.
The two offices have also worked closely together on the finance company investigations, and there were discussions about commission chairwoman Jane Diplock setting up an Auckland office in the SFO, says Bradshaw.
Naturally, the SFO also works closely with IRD, he says.
But if one of the brains behind the Digitech scheme is to be believed, the offices actually work rather too closely together.
John Reid, a merchant banker who was one of the central figures in the Digitech case, claims IRD and SFO staff attempted to pervert the course of justice in the case. They did this by conspiring "to do unlawful acts so as to achieve the best prospects for a prosecution to proceed", including withholding important documents, destroying important documents, creating false documents, running a secret file, failing to keep records and making false statements, he claims.
Reid and three other men were eventually acquitted of charges of fraud and money laundering, and have won legal costs from the SFO.
Reid has laid official complaints with the police, the Attorney-General, and Parliament's law and order select committee, and has included what he says is evidence of his claims. The police told him that while there might have been sloppy procedures, they didn't believe anything criminal had occurred, he says. "Everyone has shut the lid on it."
Bradshaw strongly denies any suggestion that SFO or IRD staff did anything wrong.
Although Reid was acquitted, his circumstances are a classic example of how the court of public opinion can often deliver an even stronger verdict than a court of law. A crucial question with Digitech was whether the scheme was fraud or merely tax avoidance. The judge decided the latter.
Asked why he is pursuing the issue, Reid says he simply wants his life back. He has been unemployable since the case, he says, and is looking to regain "some kind of honour".
