New council boss gets feel of office

GRANT BRYANT/Fairfax NZ

DEBATE NEEDED: The SFO's decision not to lay charges over the collapse of Hanover Finance brings into question the effectiveness of the Crimes Act, former SFO boss Adam Feeley says.

Relevant offers

High-profile chief executive Adam Feeley started his first day of his latest job, as the corporate head of Queenstown Lakes District Council, with lots of handshakes yesterday.

Mr Feeley stepped down as the head of the Serious Fraud Office and relocated his family to the Wakatipu Basin in the past two weeks. His first day in his new role was mostly taken up with meeting and greeting council staff and sitting in on the council's community services and infrastructure committee meetings.

Mr Feeley has been widely praised for his work with the Serious Fraud Office, restructuring and giving teeth to what was seen as a largely ineffectual government agency.

Under his leadership the office pursued multiple prosecutions relating to more than $3 billion of losses in the finance sector.

Although Mr Feeley said it was too early in his tenure to give any relevant comment, he has already made a splash by spearheading moves to promote Queenstown through hosting matches in the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

The four-yearly tournament, which will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand, will have a TV audience of almost 100 million.

- © Fairfax NZ News

Comments