Serious Fraud Office (United Kingdom)

Serious Fraud Office ( SFO) is in some English-speaking countries the name of a law enforcement agency for serious fraud offenses.

Great Britain

The agency was founded in April 1988 has its headquarters in London. It is under the direction of the acting attorney general ( Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales). The tasks of the Serious Fraud Office extend to investigations and prosecutions of certain serious fraud with a loss of more than one million pounds sterling. The jurisdiction extends to England, Wales, Northern Ireland - the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands and Scotland are the exception .. Director since April 21, 2003 Robert Wardle. Legal basis of the authority is the law of the Criminal Justice Act 1987.

New Zealand

The New Zealand Serious Fraud Office ( Māori: Te Tari Hara Tāware ) based on the British model. The office is based in Auckland and works closely with the New Zealand Police together. In 1990, the legal basis for the government department was with the Serious Fraud Office Act 1990 created and then built up gradually.

In September 2007, the government under Labour announced that the department by a new organization, the Organised Crime Agency, which should be placed under police detach. However, after the election of the New Zealand House of Representatives in November 2008, the Prime Minister John Key informed Parliament that he does not intend to dissolve the Serious Fraud Office.