Corruption in New Zealand#Police corruption

{{main|Serious Fraud Office (New Zealand)}}

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is the lead law enforcement agency for investigating and prosecuting serious financial crimes, including bribery{{cite news |last1=Owen |first1=Catrin |title=Auckland businessman, council official admit corruption and bribery charges |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/119809000/auckland-businessman-council-official-admit-corruption-and-bribery-charges |access-date=27 February 2020 |date=26 February 2020}} and corruption. In 2020, the SFO reported that it had seen a 40 percent increase in cases involving public officials, central and local government, in the past five years.{{cite news |last1=Devlin |first1=Collette |title=The Serious Fraud Office takes months on big political decisions. Here's why. |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/119687399/the-serious-fraud-office-takes-months-on-big-political-decisions-heres-why |access-date=27 February 2020 |work=Stuff }}

{{main|Electoral Commission (New Zealand)}}

The Electoral Commission is responsible for the administration of parliamentary elections and promoting compliance with electoral laws, including those around the size and transparency of donations. If they believe the law is being broken, they refer the matter to the Police or Serious Fraud Office.{{cite news |last1=Cooke |first1=Henry |title=Explainer: How New Zealand's convoluted electoral law works |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/117573833/explainer-how-new-zealands-convoluted-electoral-law-works |access-date=27 February 2020 |work=Stuff |date=20 November 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Cooke |first1=Henry |title=Complaint about political donations referred to Serious Fraud Office |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/111205902/complaint-about-political-donations-referred-to-serious-fraud-office |access-date=27 February 2020 |date=12 March 2019}}

{{main|Independent Police Conduct Authority}}

The Independent Police Conduct Authority is an independent body that considers complaints against New Zealand Police and oversees their conduct.[http://www.ipca.govt.nz/ It's our job to keep watch over Police] IPCA website Under section 12 of the [http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1988/0002/latest/DLM126222.html?search=ts_act_police+conduct_resel&sr=1 Independent Police Conduct Authority Act 1988], "the Authority's functions are to: receive complaints alleging misconduct or neglect of duty by any member of Police or concerning any Police practice, policy or procedure affecting a complainant; and to investigate incidents in which a member of Police (acting in the execution of his or her duty) causes or appears to have caused death or serious bodily harm."[http://www.ipca.govt.nz/Site/about/Role-and-powers.aspx Role and powers] IPCA website

{{main|Office of the Ombudsman (New Zealand)}}

The Ombudsman's role is to ensure citizens receive 'fair play' in their dealings with government entities, and they investigate where required.{{cite news |title=Ombudsman looks into Auckland Transport road maintenance case |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11765322 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=12 December 2016}} Over the years the powers of the Office have been extended to include education and hospital boards (from 1968), local government agencies (1975), requests under the Official Information Act (2003) and in 2005, all crown entities.[http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/about-us/history History of the Ombudsman]

New Zealand has ratified several important international anti-corruption conventions such as the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions{{cite web|title=Ratification Status as of May 2017|url=http://www.oecd.org/daf/anti-bribery/WGBRatificationStatus.pdf|publisher=OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions|access-date=7 January 2018}} and the United Nations Convention against Corruption.{{cite web|title=Signature and Ratification Status|url=http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/corruption/ratification-status.html|publisher=United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime|access-date=7 January 2018}}

New Zealand is regarded as having one of the lowest levels of corruption in the world. Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index scores 180 countries according to the perceived corruption of their public sector on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). Those countries are then ranked by their score; the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.{{Cite web |title=The ABCs of the CPI: How the Corruption Perceptions Index is calculated |url=https://www.transparency.org/en/news/how-cpi-scores-are-calculated |date=11 February 2025 |access-date=23 April 2025 |website=Transparency.org|language=en}} In the 2024 Index, New Zealand earned the fourth-highest score worldwide, 83. The best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180).{{Cite web |title=Corruption Perceptions Index 2024: New Zealand |url=https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2024/index/nzl |access-date=23 April 2025 |website=Transparency.org |language=en}} In the Asia Pacific region{{refn|Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vanuatu, and Vietnam |group="Note"}} New Zealand was the second-highest score, after Singapore (84). The average regional score was 44 and the lowest was 16.{{Cite web |title=CPI 2024 for Asia Pacific: Leaders failing to stop corruption amid an escalating climate crisis |url=https://www.transparency.org/en/news/cpi-2024-asia-pacific-leaders-failing-to-stop-corruption-amid-escalating-climate-crisis |date=11 February 2025 |access-date=23 April 2025 |website=Transparency.org|language=en}}

{{reflist|group=Note}}

• Crime in New Zealand
• List of New Zealand Police controversies
• List of political scandals in New Zealand

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web|url=http://www.transparencynz.org.nz/index.php/resources/doc_download/45-2003-nz-national-integrity-system|title=National Integrity Systems TI Country Study Report New Zealand 2003|last1=Henderson|first1=John|last2=Cave|first2=Shane|last3=Petrie|first3=Murray|year=2003|publisher=Transparency International|access-date=13 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324011159/http://www.transparencynz.org.nz/index.php/resources/doc_download/45-2003-nz-national-integrity-system|archive-date=24 March 2012|url-status=dead}}

• [https://www.sfo.govt.nz/what-fraud-is-and-what-we-do Bribery and corruption page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411191914/https://sfo.govt.nz/what-fraud-is-and-what-we-do |date=11 April 2021 }} at the Serious Fraud Office
• [http://www.transparencynz.org.nz/ Transparency International New Zealand] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811185927/https://transparencynz.org.nz/ |date=11 August 2020 }}

{{Oceania topic|Corruption in}}

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New Zealand

Category:Crime in New Zealand by type

New Zealand

Category:Law of New Zealand

Category:Economy of New Zealand

Category:Government of New Zealand

Category:Politics of New Zealand

Category:Society of New Zealand