Adam Feeley, Chief Executive of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is leaving the post to take over as the Chief Executive of the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
An SFO press release said that he may move in the next three months.
He has been in his current post since 2009.
A qualified solicitor, Mr Feeley was earlier Chief Executive of the Eden Park Redevelopment Board, General Manager of Baycorp and Group Manager, Crown Minerals (Economic Development Ministry).
He said that the focus of the SFO during the past few years has been to boost public confidence in bringing fraudsters to account and enhance the capacity of the organisation.
“While there is still work to be done, I think that a very talented team within the SFO has achieved an enormous amount,” he said, adding that he enjoyed his tenure as the Chief Executive.
Mr Feeley said that the SFO would continue to prove that it is as good as any agency in the world for handling serious financial crime.
“I have a long affinity with the Queenstown Lakes District and I am excited about the new and very different challenges,” he said.
Established in 1990 under the Serious Fraud Office Act in response to the collapse of financial markets in New Zealand at that time, the SFO operates three investigative teams including Fraud Detection & Intelligence, Financial Markets & Corporate Fraud and Fraud & Corruption.
It operates under two sets of investigative powers.
Part I of the SFO Act provides that it may act where “the Director has reason to suspect that an investigation into the affairs of any person may disclose serious or complex fraud.”
Part II of the Act provides the SFO with more extensive powers, wherein “the Director has reasonable grounds to believe that an offence involving serious or complex fraud may have been committed.”
