New Zealand: Fraud could be worth 3.9 per cent of GDP

Fraud could be costing the country up to $9.4 billion a year, according to reports that were ditched by the Government before completion. The draft report by the Serious Fraud Office to quantify the cost of economic crime has been obtained by Radio New Zealand under the Official Information Act. The cost is put at between $6.1b to $9.4b - about 3.9 per cent of GDP and twice the combined annual budgets of police, the Department of Corrections, and the courts. Tax fraud could be worth $2b, wholesale/retail trade and accommodation worth $1.2b and welfare fraud $80 million. Just 5 per cent of the tax fraud was being detected, the report estimated. The cost of economic crime report was modelled on work done in the United Kingdom and was to be a key tool in the SFO's battle against fraud, according to 3news.co.nz