The Serious Fraud Office says it has visited the offices of southern millionaire Allan Hubbard's Aorangi Securities in Timaru in response to concerns raised by the Registrar of Companies.
The aim of the visit was also to establish an immediate working relationship with the statutory managers appointed to manage Aorangi's affairs, and those of Allan Hubbard and his wife, the SFO said.
The Government moved on Sunday to place Aorangi, seven charitable trusts, Mr Hubbard and his wife Margaret Hubbard, who is known as Jean, into statutory management. Mr Hubbard has criticised the move as misguided.
Confirming its investigation, SFO chief executive Adam Feeley said: "The SFO commenced this inquiry only after careful consideration of the information received from the Registrar of Companies."
The SFO's investigation was an immediate response to an earlier investigation by Companies Office staff appointed under the Corporations (Investigation & Management) Act and the Securities Act, Mr Feeley said.
"Based on the information we received from the earlier report, we were satisfied that, not only was it in the public interest to commence an inquiry, but that the inquiry should be conducted under Part 2 of the SFO Act -- that is, it should be an investigation of suspected offences involving serious or complex fraud."
The SFO had two initial priorities -- to ensure any evidence relevant to the matters highlighted in the Registrar of Companies' report was secured by SFO investigators; and to ensure the SFO's investigation complemented, rather than compromised, the work of the statutory managers, Mr Feeley said.
"We have established a good working relationship with the statutory managers, and are confident that our respective tasks will have proper regard to investor interests, as well as ensuring there is an orderly investigation."
The SFO would not comment on the scope of its inquiries beyond confirming it would examine concerns raised by the Registrar whether any or all of about $134 million of investors' funds deposited with Aorangi had been received after proper disclosure, and whether those funds had been dealt with in a manner consistent with representations made to investors, Mr Feeley said.
The volume of documents to be analysed and number of parties to be interviewed meant it would be several weeks before the SFO could comment meaningfully on how long its investiation would take.
"This is an investigation of major importance to our financial markets, and the need for a thorough and fair investigation cannot be compromised by the understandable desire for early answers," Mr Feeley said.
