South Canterbury Finance Limited (SCF) was placed into receivership on 31 August 2010 owing approximately $1.8 billion.   As the company participated in the crown retail deposit guarantee scheme, any eventual loss will be borne by the crown.     

On the basis of investigations completed by the Intelligence and Detection Team, the Director determined that an investigation into the affairs of SCF may disclose serious or complex fraud.  An investigation under Part I of the Serious Fraud Office Act was commenced on 18 October 2010.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has laid 21 charges against five individuals following its investigation into South Canterbury Finance Limited.   The charges allege a variety of offences, including theft by a person in a special relationship; obtaining by deception; false statements by the promoter of a company; and false accounting.
 
The total estimated value of allegedly fraudulent transactions is approximately $1.7 billion.
 
The individuals are due to appear in the Timaru District Court on 16 January 2012.

The collection and analysis of evidence in the South Canterbury Finance case is well advanced and the SFO has now commenced interviews with key witnesses involved in the case.

Following the collection of initial further information the investigation was upgraded to a Part II investigation.

SFO has announced that it has commenced an investigation in relation to related party transactions which we consider may have been a fraud on the investors in SCF and/or the Crown as the guarantor of investor funds. Given the scale of the SCF collapse, the investigation will not attempt to carry out an investigation into all aspects of the failure.

The case manager for this case is Anna Tierney.  If you have questions regarding your personal involvement with this case or information that may assist the investigation, he/she can be contacted on anna.tierney@sfo.govt.nz or 0800 109 800.  

For media enquiries call 027 705 4550