Anyone home at Dunedin City Council ?
[indicators only serve to show New Zealand hasn’t been properly measured and reported for corrupt practice in this and previous decades, dodgy as]
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### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 14:30, September 17 2015
CAANZ: Rising corruption a serious threat to New Zealand
By Ellen Read
Rewarding whistle-blowers and ensuring companies have anti-corruption policies are just two things needed to help fight financial corruption and protect New Zealand’s reputation.
That is according to Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand (CAANZ), which released a trans-Tasman report Are Australia and New Zealand corrupt? in Sydney on Thursday along with a strong message that complacency is not an option.
A high level roundtable is planned to follow the launch with New Zealand represented by Serious Fraud Office director Julie Read, Financial Market Authority head of enforcement Belinda Moffat and Suzanne Snively, head of Transparency International NZ.
While New Zealand ranked a healthy second in the 2014 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, it was a slip from the top place it had held for many years. Denmark now holds the top spot. Australia is ranked 11th, the second consecutive drop.
“Not only do reports indicate that rates of corruption in [Australia and New Zealand] may be rising, we are also doing more business with countries that have different ethical frameworks from our own,” CAANZ president Fred Hutchings says in the report.
Of New Zealand’s top 10 trading partners two rank poorly in the Transparency International Index – China sits in 100th place (out of 176 countries surveyed) and Thailand at number 85.
There is no measure or estimate of how much corruption costs New Zealand each year but the CAANZ report singled out recent finance company collapses and director prosecutions as costly examples.
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█ Stuff: Bribery and corruption report should be ‘a wake-up call’
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### charteredaccountantsanz.com 17 September 2015
NEWS
Calls for action in fight against corruption
Australia and New Zealand risk losing their global standing in anti-corruption efforts, prompting our calls for a holistic and sustainable approach to addressing bribery and corruption in the region. Corruption is on the rise according to our latest future[inc] publication, Are Australia and New Zealand Corrupt?, with both countries increasingly trading with countries considered to be corrupt.
Research suggests bribery and corruption has increased by upwards of 80% and both Australia and New Zealand have fallen in global rankings for transparency and corruption.
Chartered Accountants ANZ CEO Lee White said that while both Australia and New Zealand have traditionally traded on reputations of honesty and integrity, this reputation is at risk if the issue isn’t addressed, and steps put in place to mitigate the threat. […] The report suggests legislation alone will not stamp out corruption, but does outline a series of recommendations which could be adopted across Australia and New Zealand. Recommendations include compulsory anti-bribery and corruption policies in NZX and ASX listing rulings, regulation to prohibit the awarding of public sector contracts for those with past convictions, and a prohibition on rewarding public sector contracts to companies without corruption policies.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 