The Serious Fraud Office is the next state agency in for a shake-up.
The New Zealand Herald reported six key roles would be scrapped as part of a review including assistant director, held by Gib Beattie, senior supervising investigators -- David Osborn, Rhys Metcalfe and Ian Varley, complaints officer (also Mr Varley), and chief prosecutor, held by Anita Killeen.
While all five can apply for new roles in the SFO, colleagues told the newspaper they were unlikely to stay. The senior staff members were either unable to be contacted or declined to comment.
Adam Feeley, appointed director in November, confirmed that a review began in January in response to the Government's decision to retain the SFO. The previous Labour government had wanted to merge it into a new police unit targeting organised and financial crime.
Mr Feeley said decisions had not yet been made and it was not a cost-cutting exercise.
"The outcome of the review is intended to not only strengthen its performance, but also ensure that it is structured in a manner that ensures it has access to skills [internally and externally] to further its role in fighting financial crime."
He said the need for the review had been endorsed by other law-enforcement agencies, regulators and the insolvency sector, as well as major legal and accounting firms.
The newspaper understood law firm Meredith Connell, which holds the crown warrant for prosecutions, and accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers would be closely involved with future SFO investigations.
