5:30 pm By JOSIE CLARKE
Three staff of Work and Income New Zealand (Winz) face prosecution for allegedly selling clients' addresses to debt collectors.
The department has admitted that it started an investigation three years ago into claims that staff were illegally selling client information.
Winz spokeswoman Kate Joblin understood debt collectors approached Winz staff with requests for the addresses of particular clients.
She did not know how many addresses had been sold, but said the staff facing prosecution worked nationwide.
Winz chief executive Christine Rankin, who approved the investigation, has refused to comment.
But Ms Joblin said Winz decided to investigate staff after former repossession man Dave Swinburne approached the department offering to help identify staff selling client information.
In return, Mr Swinburn asked for immunity against prosecution after he allegedly sold information to debt collectors.
"The department confirms that three of its staff face prosecution for illegally selling information to debt collectors," she said.
The investigation involved Crown Law, the State Services Commission, police and others.
Ms Joblin said privacy of client information was critical to the department's business and any breach was taken seriously.
All staff received training on the Privacy Act and the requirement to protect clients' personal information was included in the department's code of conduct.
The department had reviewed its security policy and procedures and had made changes to its systems to prevent "this type of crime happening again".
A spokesman for Social Services Minister Steve Maharey said the minister had asked for a report reviewing police involvement in the department's investigation.
The spokesman could not say exactly when Mr Maharey found out about the investigation, but said he had been briefed this year.
The alleged breach comes less than a year after Inland Revenue Department worker Sopo Matagi pleaded guilty to selling information from the IRD. She received a nine-month jail sentence.
State Services Commissioner Michael Wintringham said there would always be a small number among the country's 29,000 public servants who were susceptible to bribery from debt collectors, repossession agents or private investigators.
Mr Wintringham agreed that the public could find the allegations disturbing, especially considering Census night was just days away.
"I want to make it clear that corrupt practice on the part of public servants is extremely rare in this country, but that doesn't mean it's not important.
"Cases like this one undermine citizens' confidence in public institutions. There's obviously a direct relationship between citizens' confidence and citizens' compliance.
Privacy Commissioner Bruce Slane said computer programmes allowed organisations to identify every person who accessed a particular file.
In the United States, employees committed an offence if they browsed through information they had no need to look at, "and that's the culture that needs to be developed in any large organisation."
It was an offence in New Zealand if creditors received information they knew had been illegally obtained with a punishment of up to seven years imprisonment.
Winz staff alleged to have sold client information
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