Crimes not investigated

WELLINGTON: Nearly twothirds of all identified serious immigration crime is going uninvestigated, largely because of underfunding.

Immigration NZ identified 1842 cases of suspected serious crime in the 201718 financial year, but was unable to investigate 1195 of those cases, largely because of a ‘‘lack of investigative resource’’.

That number has more than doubled in the past two years — up from 598 uninvestigated cases in 201516 — and it is tracking to increase again for 201819.

The crimes going uninvestigated include peoplesmuggling and migrant exploitation — some of the most serious offences Immigration New Zealand deals with.

‘‘Victims deserve the matter to be investigated, and investigated fully,’’ Immigration NZ compliance general manager Peter Devoy, told RNZ yesterday.

‘‘The Immigration Minister is aware of the increase in matters being reported. We . . . put a case forward, saying investment in this area is required, but that’s all I can do,’’ Mr Devoy said.

Immigration Minister Iain LeesGalloway confirmed he was aware nearly twothirds of all cases were going uninvestigated, but said he required more information before deciding whether to inject more money into the Immigration investigation unit.

The minister said he had commissioned a ‘‘piece of work’’ to look into ‘‘where the Government should be investing its resources, what the best use of our resources is, and I will be making future decisions based on that piece of work’’.

But that ‘‘piece of work’’ has not started yet and is not expected to be completed until the middle of next year, meaning the earliest the investigations unit would see an increase in budget would be the 202021 financial year.

If the current trend continues, more than 2000 potentially serious cases of immigration crime will be going uninvestigated each year.

‘‘Ultimately it comes down to priorities. There is a lot to be gained from doing things that prevent exploitation of migrants, that prevent immigration activity, and so it’s not just about putting more money into investigations and prosecutions, it’s about how the whole immigration system works to discourage fraudulent activity,’’ the minister said.

Mr Devoy said he was seeing an increase in people trying to ‘‘buy their way into New Zealand’’.

‘‘And that’s a baseline situation where corruption in New Zealand will come in. And that’s my concern.’’

❛ Victims deserve the matter to be investigated, and investigated fully