Fighting organised crime and corruption in a fractured world

Hear about: how global disruption enables Organised Crime, how and why organised crime corrupts people in the govt and private sector, and combined efforts to disrupt organised crime in business and govt

Presenters:

• Virginia Comolli Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime will talk about the Organised Crime Index and what it says about Australia and New Zealand including our resilience and vulnerabilities to organised crime.
• Det Sup. Wayne Gray, NZ Police National Organised Crime Unit will talk about some cases where organised crime has corrupted businesses, and strategies to fight this.
• Matt Fehon, Partner at McGrath Nicol, an Australian company and business member of Transparency International Australia.  Matt will speak on organized crime and supply chain risks
• Julie Haggie from Transparency International New Zealand will Chair the webinar.

Profiles of Presenters

Virginia Comolli, Head of Pacific Programme, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC)

Virginia is responsible for GI-TOC’s new portfolio in the Pacific. A key focus of this work is the mapping of foreign criminal actors active in Pacific Island countries.

She had joined the GI-TOC in 2020, initially managing a programme on disrupting environmental crime. She was then appointed Senior Expert within the Asia Pacific Observatory conducting research on, among others, child sexual exploitation and spearheading GI-TOC’s expansion into the South Pacific.

Prior to GI-TOC, she had spent 14 years with The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), most recently as head of the Conflict, Security and Development programme, working on organized crime, violent extremism, conflict, insurgency and how these phenomena intersect.

Additional experience includes a secondment to the UK Ministry of Justice and working for the intelligence unit of a private security firm and with a strategic intelligence company. She is a former Special Police Constable.

Wayne Gray, Detective Inspector, Strategy and Liaison Manager, National Organised Crime Group, New Zealand Police.

Wayne is responsible for providing leadership and management for the strategic planning and liaison processes for the National Organised Crime Group. A key focus of this work is targeting transnational and national organised crime groups targeting NZ mainly in the illegal drugs space.

Wayne joined the National Organised Crime Group in May 2023, having previously work in National Security and Financial Crime (recovering assets from organised crime members and targeting money laundering) in his 15 years in New Zealand Police.

Wayne previously worked for West Midland Police in the UK for 14 years working in organised and financial crime group mainly throughout his service.

Matt Fehon AM, Partner McGrath Nicol and Transparency International Australia advisor.

Matt is a highly regarded corporate advisory specialist and forensic expert. He specialises in financial crime, corporate corruption, regulatory investigations, money laundering, asset and fund tracing, dispute advisory and providing expert evidence.

A Forensic Accountant with more than 30 years of investigative and consulting work, Matt has extensive skills in regulatory investigations, fraud and corruption investigations, asset and fund tracing investigations, and an Appointed Independent Expert to Enforceable Undertakings.

In 2021, Matt was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.