SFO defends its spending against lawyers' attack

Gib Beattie

The Serious Fraud Office has hit back at claims from lawyers that it is not properly accounting for its spending.

Gary Gotlieb, president of the Auckland District Law Society, said yesterday that it was "extraordinary" that the SFO could not calculate its internal costs.

The criticism came after Attorney General David Parker said two outside lawyers were paid a total of $326,000 for the failed Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust case but other costs were not known.

Gib Beattie, the SFO's assistant director, told nzherald.co.nz: "Firstly, the SFO can account for every cent that it receives from Government and it does so. For anyone to suggest otherwise is in itself, extraordinary and staggering."

He said the cost of an investigation played no part in it being carried out or any decision to halt an inquiry.

Mr Beattie said: "That would be tantamount to saying that if a defendant is well-heeled enough to string a case out and make it expensive to run, then let's kick for touch on it. There is simply no way that would be allowed to happen.

"If an investigation is properly launched and then professionally and efficiently undertaken - with all the checks and balances that we have in place to ensure that this is so - then an individual costing is an academic exercise that has no real value."

Mr Parker had said in a written response to an Official Information Act request: "I am advised that the SFO does not record its internal costs for individual investigations or prosecutions."

Mr Beattie responded by saying that SFO staff were working on a number of cases at any one time and certain roles, such as management, cut across all cases so it was not possible to give the exact cost of individual inquiries.

"In the last 5 years the SFO's workloads have increased - with no significant increase in our budget. We are satisfied that we apply public money properly and efficiently and that it is fully accounted for," Mr Beattie said.