Organised-Crime-in-NZ-2010-Public-Version

Bribery and corruption
• New Zealand is internationally recognised as one of the least corrupt societies in the world.
• There are isolated incidents whereby bribery and corruption have facilitated organised crime group
offending in New Zealand.
International experience has shown that despite increased scrutiny and surveillance at the border, as well as enhanced
law enforcement effort, organised crime groups continue to carry out criminal activity such as illicit drug trafficking,
illegal migration and identity crime. This activity is facilitated in part by the corruption of public officials through the
payment of bribes and extortion. Although there are few incidents of corruption in New Zealand, organised crime groups
continue to look for ways to exploit weaknesses.
New Zealand has implemented international standards 28 that criminalise corruption and promote transparency in
decision-making as a way of combating corruption by organised crime groups. To date, New Zealand has been able to
prevent and detect wide-spread corruption through a combination of public antipathy to corrupt practices, effective
legal frameworks and strong integrity systems 29 .
28 New Zealand has ratified the UN Convention on Transnational Organised Crime, which is concerned with the corruption of domestic public officials, and the OECD Convention
on Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, which is concerned with bribery of overseas public officials.
29 ‘Integrity systems’ refers to those democratic institutional and constitutional arrangements that provide for transparency and public accountability. These include appropriate
checks and balances between the executive, legislature and judiciary, respect for the rule of law, and an active civil society (including an independent free media, free and fair
elections and participation in public affairs).
20