Lawyers voice anger at SFO

The Serious Fraud Office is under fire from Auckland lawyers after admitting it does not know how much the organisation spends on individual investigations and prosecutions.

Attorney General David Parker was asked under the Official Information Act how much it cost the SFO to investigate and prosecute four men charged with defrauding the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust.

All four were acquitted after a five-week trial following a nearly four year investigation.

Mr Parker said two outside lawyers were paid a total of $326,000 but other costs were not known.

"I am advised that the SFO does not record its internal costs for individual investigations or prosecutions," Mr Parker said in a written response.

SFO director David Bradshaw was not available for comment.

The SFO spent $4.6 million in taxpayer money in the last financial year.

Two prominent Auckland lawyers said the admission that a publicly funded body could not account for the money it spent was extraordinary and staggering.

Gary Gotlieb, president of the Auckland District Law Society, said if the minister had been given the right information, things had to change.

He said it was "extraordinary" that the SFO could not calculate its internal costs.

"One couldn't imagine any prosecution not being costed out," he said.

"If that is their system they need to have a really big think.

"I am at a loss. I accept what the minister has said because that is what he has been told. I find it incredible."

Marie Dyhrberg, a former president of the Criminal Bar Association of New Zealand, said recording the costs of investigations was basic and essential.

"I would find it extraordinary that a business that receives public funding does not identify how the funding is being used," she said.

"You simply cannot do that with public funding. As a matter of principle you must account for it."

The SFO is a Government department which investigates major fraud, usually over $500,000, although it also investigates any cases likely to be very complex or which are likely to be of major public interest or concern.

The SFO also has the power under the Serious Fraud Office Act to act independently of the Attorney General in any investigation or prosecution and does not have to be responsible to him.

The director has wide powers to force any individual, company or business to produce documents or answer questions.

Banks can be forced to provide client information including statements, security ledgers and files relating to loans and investments.

Lawyers can also be forced to hand over financial information about their clients, including trust account records and the last known addresses of clients.

Accountants can be told to hand over books of account and audit files.

Individuals being questioned cannot refuse to answer on the grounds they may incriminate themselves although the statements are not admissible in court unless the person later tells a different story.

- NZPA