"Least corrupt country"

Last week the Chief Ombudsman was applauding Aotearoa's top ranking in the annual Transparency International corruption perceptions index. Meanwhile, in reality, six people have just been charged with corruption over roadworks contracts: Six people have been accused of corruption by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) over roadworks contracts allegedly awarded for kickbacks in Auckland.

The agency claims two former employees of Broadspectrum (New Zealand) Limited, previously Transfield until 2015, received bribes in exchange for awarding road maintenance work to subcontractors between 2015 and 2018.

One of the former employees faces three charges of obtaining by deception and 12 charges of acceptance of gifts by agent, the SFO said in a statement today.

The other faces four charges of acceptance of gifts by agent.

Four subcontractors who were awarded the work also face charges including giving gifts to agent without consent of principal and obtaining by deception. The courts will deal with this, but it suggests we have a much bigger problem with corruption than we think.