New Zealand
is moving to expand the Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO) powers to seize digital
and cloud-based evidence, apply for search warrants orally, and take control of
its own search sites.
A bill
amending the office’s founding law passed its first reading on April 30 and now
sits with Parliament’s Justice Select Committee, which reports back by August
31.
The Serious
Fraud Office Act 1990 created the agency after the 1987 share market crash,
modeled on Britain’s Serious Fraud Office.
The office,
which handled NZ$174.5 million in
prosecuted cases last year, has seen complaints climb as digital fraud spreads.
What the Bill Hands the
Fraud Office
The bill
would let the SFO obtain the digital and cloud-based material it needs, request
warrants by phone when time is short, and manage search scenes so affected
parties cannot interfere.
It also
confirms that police can use their usual powers under the Search and
Surveillance Act 2012 when helping the SFO execute a warrant.
Justice
Minister Paul Goldsmith, who introduced the bill, cast it as clearing obstacles
rather than adding reach.
He said the
changes would ensure “there is no red tape preventing the SFO from doing
their job,” citing trouble obtaining electronic evidence and applying for
warrants under pressure.
The
government says fraud costs New Zealand billions of dollars a year, and that
offending is growing in scale and complexity.
Why Digital Evidence Sits
at the Center
The push
reflects a problem the SFO has raised repeatedly. Its cases now run to millions
of documents, with evidence spread across cloud platforms and offshore servers.
The agency
says that volume strains tools it was handed more than three decades ago.
The
collapse of Auckland crypto exchange Dasset shows the stakes. After the
platform went into liquidation in 2023, liquidators found roughly NZ$6.3
million in customer crypto unaccounted for.
The SFO
opened an investigation that stalled partly because the exchange’s chief
executive has been out of contact and offshore.
Much of
what investigators need in cases like that lives on third-party exchanges and
cloud services, exactly the material the bill targets.
The move
tracks a wider pattern of financial-crime agencies pressing for faster access
to electronic records.
New
Zealand’s framework, built around an analog-era statute, has lagged that shift
more than most.
The Evidence Rules Draw
Closer Scrutiny
Beyond the
search provisions, the bill changes how courts assess evidence that was
obtained unlawfully.
It would
let judges apply the standard balancing test under the Evidence Act 2006,
weighing the quality of the evidence, the seriousness of the offense, and
whether urgency or safety shaped how it was gathered.
That is the
part most likely to draw debate. Prosecutors and defense lawyers in past SFO cases have fought over admissibility.
The change
moves the SFO toward the same test courts apply across the rest of the criminal
system.
Public
submissions closed on June 8, and the committee is now weighing them.
Bill Lands Alongside a
Sharper Crypto Focus
The bill
drew fresh attention this week as the SFO released
its Statement of Intent for 2026 to 2030.
The
strategy adds a technology priority covering virtual asset misuse, artificial
intelligence, and other emerging fraud methods. Director Karen Chang said the
agency “is not designed for volume, but for impact.”
The SFO has
also pointed to New Zealand’s slide on Transparency International’s Corruption
Perceptions Index, from first equal in 2019 to fourth in 2025.
It cited
survey data showing 10% of adults reported fraud or cybercrime in 2025, up from
8% in 2018.
For now the
bill remains a proposal. What it looks like as law, if it passes, rests on the
committee’s recommendations after August.
This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.
SOURCE LINK : New Zealand Moves to Expand Serious Fraud Office's Digital Search Powers
