Corruption in New Zealand

New Zealand is regarded as having one of the lowest levels of corruption in the world,^[1] but Transparency International and the Serious Fraud Office have expressed concerns recently about the growth of organized crime in New Zealand, poor accountability in public sector procurement, and weaknesses in border controls. The undue influence of lobbyists over Members of Parliament has also been raised as a potential threat to democracy in New Zealand. There is currently no comprehensive register of lobbyists, no mandatory code of conduct, and no “cooling off” period before former ministers and officials can become lobbyists.

Although corruption is generally described as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain, it can take different forms including bribery, embezzlement, nepotism, extortion, kickbacks, money laundering, fraud, and conflicts of interest.^[2]

In 2025, a Ministerial Advisory Group defined corruption as the "abuse of access or authority to advance the objectives of organised crime" and said that despite New Zealand's longstanding reputation for being free of corruption, organised crime represented an "insider threat," whereby individuals in trusted positions are being targeted, particularly at the borders, to facilitate illicit drug importation.^[3]

The Auditor General of New Zealand states that corruption is a type of fraud,^[4] and the Ministry of Justice says fraud is currently the most prevalent and fastest growing crime type in New Zealand.^[5] Money laundering is now estimated at $1.35 billion NZD per year, reflecting illegal activity connected to drug markets, tax evasion, and other financial crimes.^[6]

In May 2025, the Ministerial Advisory Group on Transnational, Serious and Organised Crime presented a report to Cabinet on the growing threat to New Zealand and the Pacific posed by organised crime.^[7] It identified instances of corruption involving airport baggage handlers,^[8] Customs employees assisting in the importation of illicit drugs,^[9] the exploitation of migrants, and a police officer who was paid $70,000 by an organised crime group to share sensitive information from the police database.^[10]

The Report said New Zealand is more susceptible than ever to corruption at our borders and that this is an increasing threat. A majority of interceptions of drugs at our ports and airports involve trusted insiders helping to retrieve concealed shipments before customs inspects them - consistent with an unpublished global report which estimates that 70% of maritime seizures worldwide involve insider cooperation.^[11]

However, in business related fraud, a report by KPMG in 2012, found that only 17% of perpetrators are employees or 'insiders' within the victim organization, including both management and non-management staff.^[12] Fraud has been committed in local councils, transport authorities, educational institutions, government ministries, and by business consultants. Notable public sector examples include council employees manipulating procurement processes, senior managers in government agencies, and individuals in leadership roles at public entities.^[13]

KPMG said that around 84% of perpetrators in business related fraud are external parties or 'outsiders,' such as vendors, customers, or third-party suppliers. These external actors often engage in procurement fraud, cyber-enabled fraud, and large-scale scams.

The National Cyber Security Centre reported that in the first three months of 2025, more than half of the financial losses from scams were suffered by businesses, especially those handling large financial transactions such as law firms and real estate agencies. In 2024, scam losses came to NZ$25.7 million, up 40% from NZ$18.3 million in 2023. However, independent estimates suggest that the true annual cost of fraud — including unreported incidents — could range from NZ$200 million to NZ$2 billion.^[14]

Tax avoidance: New Zealand loses significant sums of revenue through legal tax avoidance mechanisms, especially through multinational corporations shifting profits offshore. For example, in 2023, about USD$167.6 million in tax revenue was lost this way. The Tax Justice Network wants an end to global tax abuse that deprives countries of tax revenue.^[15]

Tax evasion: Tax evasion is a subset of avoidance that is illegal. Figures from Inland Revenue show that, in the first half of the 2024/25 financial year, audits uncovered $600 million in additional tax that should have been declared - suggesting the annual total of taxes evaded by new Zealanders would be in the vicinity of $1.2 billion. Only 60–80 tax evasion cases are prosecuted each year, targeting just 0.01% of taxpayers. This reflects the often complex and less visible nature of such offending.^[16]

At the end of 2024, New Zealand’s tax debt (including overdue, unpaid, and evaded taxes across all sectors) stood at $8.5 billion. A significant increase in prosecutions means Inland Revenue is on track to collect over $4 billion in overdue and evaded taxes for the financial year ending June 2025.^[17]

Benefit fraud: In comparison, most benefit fraud in New Zealand is relatively small, and the majority of benefit fraud cases involve overpayment recovery rather than criminal prosecution. In the 2021/22 year 4,638 cases of benefit fraud were investigated, but only 33 resulted in criminal prosecutions, with $2.4 million identified as total overpayments.^[18]

However, the overall scale of welfare fraud in New Zealand is in the range of $10–$20 million per year - although overpayments may not necessarily be the fault of the recipient. In the year ending June 2024, the Ministry of Social Development recorded 1,092 completed benefit fraud investigations, resulting in a total of $12.24 million in overpayments for that financial year.^[19]

According to data from the 2024 Crime and Victims Survey, fraud is now the most prevalent and fastest growing type of crime in New Zealand, accounting for around 29% of all crimes committed.^[20]

Recent research suggests that two-thirds (67%) of New Zealanders have been targeted by online scams and one in three (33%) have actually fallen victim.^[21]

Increased reliance on digital banking, online shopping, and digital communication platforms has created more opportunities for scammers and fraudsters to target both individuals and businesses from anywhere in the world. The growth in digital asset investments has made people vulnerable to crypto investment scams, which are harder to trace and regulate.^[22]

Business email compromise and unauthorised money transfers are among the fastest-rising scams, with high-value incidents over $100,000 now being reported more frequently.^[23]

Scams and fraud schemes increasingly use social engineering, psychological manipulation, and even AI-driven tactics to build trust and steal information or money.^[24] Many victims feel shame that they fell prey to a scam and only about a third of victims report the incident. At the same time, regulatory and enforcement agencies are struggling to keep pace with rapidly evolving fraud strategies, leading to a lag in effective prevention and response.^[25]

A range of concerns have been raised over the access of lobbyists to Members of Parliament (MPs) in New Zealand. Unlike countries such as Australia or Canada, the lobbying industry is largely unregulated, and there is no dedicated watchdog or monitoring of lobbying activities. Lobbyists do not have to register, disclose their clients, or reveal their activities. This has allowed New Zealand to develop a “revolving door”, whereby former politicians and ministerial staff move into lobbying roles after leaving government.^[26] For example, [Kris Faafoi], a former Cabinet minister, became a lobbyist soon after leaving politics.^[27]

This raises concerns about the misuse of privileged information and future employment influencing current official decisions, and makes it difficult for the public to know who is influencing MPs on critical issues - fueling suspicion about potential backroom deals and undue influence by those with access.^[28] Both the Ministry of Justice and independent observers have warned that excessive influence, opaque lobbying, and the appearance of MPs “trading favours behind closed doors” threaten the integrity of New Zealand’s democracy.^[29]

Lobbying by industry sectors has contributed to the adoption of "light-handed" or weak regulation in areas such as finance and building standards, with disastrous public consequences. For instance, the collapse of multiple finance companies since 2006 led to the loss of billions of dollars of investors' money. In 2011, this led to an overhaul of laws regulating finance companies and the creation of a new regulator - the Financial Markets Authority (FMA).^[30]

The leaky homes crisis in New Zealand, producing costs of $11 billion - estimated as half the true cost ^[31]- has also been linked to lobbying efforts that prioritized industry profit over robust public protections.^[32]

Lobbying by particular industries, especially in agriculture, liquor, hospitality, and processed foods, continues to shape policy outcomes. For example, efforts to introduce stricter alcohol and unhealthy food regulations have often been stymied or watered down due to lobbying pressure from these sectors.^[33] The tobacco industry has also been effective due to their links with the NZ First Party - undermining New Zealand's commitment to be smoke free by the end of 2025.^[34]

Concerns have also been raised about political donations from wealthy individuals and corporations, which can grant privileged access and influence, particularly in the absence of robust disclosure laws. This further distorts the policy-making process in favour of those with financial resources.^[35]

National Party Donation Scandal (2018–2020): Donations of almost $200,000 to the National Party were allegedly split into smaller amounts to avoid disclosure requirements. Ex-MP Jami-Lee Ross was implicated in helping facilitate this, leading to significant reputational damage for the National Party. While no current senior officials were charged, the scandal highlighted vulnerabilities in donation laws and prompted widespread calls for reform.^[36]

New Zealand First Foundation Scandal (2019–2022): The NZ First Foundation collected almost $500,000 in donations from various wealthy donors, including those in food manufacturing, racing, forestry, and property development. These funds were used for party activities but were not properly disclosed, raising accusations of using a “secret slush fund” and allegedly breaching electoral rules. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) prosecuted, although the trial ended without convictions due to technical legalities, the court affirmed that the donations should have been disclosed under the Electoral Act.^[37]

The New Zealand police are perceived to have a minimal level of institutional corruption. The National Organised Crime Group within the New Zealand Police has uncovered some corruption in government agencies and the private sector connected to criminal groups, but systemic corruption within the police itself remains limited overall.^[38] However, individual police officers have been involved in numerous controversies in recent years, some of which may be perceived as involving corrupt behaviour. See the List of New Zealand Police controversies.

Historically, there have been a number of wrongful convictions involving police misconduct, such as the planting of evidence against Arthur Allan Thomas in 1979, who was later pardoned and compensated after a Royal Commission found police officers responsible for framing him.^[39] Since then, police officers have been accused of manipulating evidence, fabricating information, pressuring witnesses to lie, and using questionable investigative techniques in the pursuit of convictions - strategies which have been described as noble cause corruption.^[40]

Since 2021, hundreds of police staff have been criminally investigated, and the Police National Integrity Unit continues efforts to deter and detect corruption within the force.^[41]

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is the lead law enforcement agency for investigating and prosecuting serious financial crimes, including bribery^[42] and corruption. In 2020, the SFO reported that it had seen a 40 percent increase in cases involving public officials, central and local government, in the past five years.^[43]

The Electoral Commission is responsible for the administration of parliamentary elections and promoting compliance with electoral laws, including those around the size and transparency of donations. If they believe the law is being broken, they refer the matter to the Police or Serious Fraud Office.^[44][45]

The Independent Police Conduct Authority is an independent body that considers complaints against New Zealand Police and oversees their conduct.^[46] Under section 12 of the Independent Police Conduct Authority Act 1988, "the Authority's functions are to: receive complaints alleging misconduct or neglect of duty by any member of Police or concerning any Police practice, policy or procedure affecting a complainant; and to investigate incidents in which a member of Police (acting in the execution of his or her duty) causes or appears to have caused death or serious bodily harm."^[47]

The Ombudsman's role is to ensure citizens receive 'fair play' in their dealings with government entities, and they investigate where required.^[48] Over the years the powers of the Office have been extended to include education and hospital boards (from 1968), local government agencies (1975), requests under the Official Information Act (2003) and in 2005, all crown entities.^[49]

New Zealand has ratified several important international anti-corruption conventions such as the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions^[50] and the United Nations Convention against Corruption.^[51]

New Zealand is regarded as having one of the lowest levels of corruption in the world.^[1] Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index scores 180 countries according to the perceived corruption of their public sector on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). Those countries are then ranked by their score; the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.^[52] In the 2024 Index, New Zealand earned the fourth-highest score worldwide, 83. The best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180).^[53] In the Asia Pacific region^{[Note 1]} New Zealand's was the second-best score, after Singapore (84). The average regional score was 44 and the worst was 16.^[54]

• Crime in New Zealand
• List of New Zealand Police controversies
• List of political scandals in New Zealand

• Henderson, John; Cave, Shane; Petrie, Murray (2003). "National Integrity Systems TI Country Study Report New Zealand 2003". Transparency International. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2011.

• Bribery and corruption page Archived 11 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine at the Serious Fraud Office
• Transparency International New Zealand Archived 11 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine