Note: Much of the work we do is confidential and undertaken out of the public gaze. For reasons of confidentiality, we cannot always disclose the identity of our clients/the participants.
Advising Clients under Investigation by the SFO (Names Withheld)
We were instructed by lawyers acting for clients whose activities were under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. The SFO was investigating whether money collected by entities associated with the clients had been misapplied and/or used contrary to the terms on which it was given. The SFO had issued demands pursuant to the Serious Fraud Office Act requiring the production of financial and company documents. It was also intent on interviewing the clients.
Assisting a client to establish and refer a Serious Fraud (Names Withheld) – Forensic Experts
Our client is a publicly listed company which had significant concerns about the conduct of two of its employees, one of whom was based in an offshore jurisdiction. Our client wished to understand what had occurred in certain business transactions so that it could appropriately discharge its responsibilities, both as an employer and a good corporate citizen. That latter responsibility included the potential for a referral to the Serious Fraud Office or the Police.
Assisting a Client in a Criminal Proceeds Recovery Action (Name Withheld) – Forensic Experts
Our client was being pursued by the Commissioner of Police who had restrained significant assets in front of an application for forfeiture. Our client had not been charged with any criminal offence in New Zealand notwithstanding that allegations had been made against him in a foreign jurisdiction.
Senior Counsel instructed us to review the reconstruction already completed by overseas law enforcement and advise on how our review impacted on the case for the Commissioner.
Assisting a Foreign Jurisdiction in the Restraint Of Assets (Names Withheld) – Forensic Investigators
We were asked by a party in a foreign jurisdiction to assist it in resisting an application for the variation of existing restraint orders. The party needed to determine whether all assets had been disclosed by the persons seeking the variation, and/or whether there might be hidden assets.
South Canterbury Finance Criminal Prosecution – Forensic Experts retained by Defence
This criminal prosecution was trumpeted by the SFO as the biggest fraud in New Zealand corporate history with the alleged offending said to be in the order of $1.7 billion. We were retained by all five defendants to provide our full range of forensic skills. All five defendants pleaded not guilty.
At the conclusion of the trial, four of the five defendants had been acquitted on all counts. No one was convicted on the so-called $1.6 billion "biggest fraud in NZ" charge, nor on theft charges of $25m, $39m and $4.2m respectively, nor on false statement charges concerning amounts of $150m, $34m and ‘an understating of impairment provisions’, nor on false accounting charges concerning some $35m. Only one defendant was convicted; on five charges, four of which related to a single transaction that spanned four different prospectuses.
Potential Litigation for a large New Zealand Corporate Client (Name Withheld) – Forensic Investigators
We were retained by a large and internationally active New Zealand corporate client that was preparing for a major potential litigation.
We were asked to undertake a reconstruction (both financial and non-financial) of historical events relating to certain core business activities, impacting both New Zealand and overseas. That required our analysis of a significant volume of material and the preparation of chronologies and summaries for use by counsel and the client. We interviewed a number of key company officers ranging from clerical staff through to directors and important third party participants.