3 October, 2007

Investigations Unit must improve performance

Minister of Housing Chris Carter says he will be carefully monitoring progress in Housing New Zealand’s Investigations Unit to make sure improvements are delivered as quickly as possible.

New measures to improve the unit’s performance have been implemented after a review by Housing New Zealand Corporation’s (HNZC) board identified difficulties the unit was having in keeping up with an increase in the number of suspicions of fraud or dishonesty referred to it.

“Even though 87 percent of potential cases did not result in a finding of fraud or prosecution last year, the backlog of referrals is hindering the job of getting on and finding any cases of fraud which could be established,” Mr Carter said.

“A new general manager of the Investigations Unit has been appointed and new processes implemented and I want to see an immediate improvement in performance.”

The review shows a sharp increase in the number of referrals to the Investigations Unit, most likely due to raised awareness among frontline staff.

At the beginning of last month, 1164 referrals were with the Investigations Unit. More than half of those have now been reviewed and closed or referred for other types of action, leaving 431 cases either waiting to be assessed, under investigation or currently being assessed by the Crown prosecutor.

“Delays in investigations damage public confidence in the state house system when we know that the vast majority of tenants - 99 percent – are honest,” Mr Carter said.

“In order to be fair to them, instances of fraud have to be dealt with promptly and thoroughly.”

ENDS

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