OIA Re:Systemic Handling of Bills of Exchange by Crown Agencies

OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT REQUEST
Systemic Handling of Bills of Exchange by Crown Agencies

 

To:
The Treasury
Official Information Act Requests
New Zealand Treasury

Dated:today

Request under the Official Information Act 1982

This request concerns the systemic handling, accounting, and enforcement treatment of Bills of Exchange tendered to Crown agencies and their delegated agents, including but not limited to Inland Revenue, local authorities, and banking intermediaries.

We advise at the outset that multiple beneficiaries within our records have tendered Bills of Exchange in respect of alleged Crown or council liabilities, and that those instruments have not been formally accepted, rejected, dishonoured, or accounted for, while enforcement and collection activity has nonetheless continued.

The instruments and related notices are already on record with the relevant agencies. This request does not seek case-specific adjudication, but rather seeks Treasury-level policy, process, and governance information.

1. Treasury policy and framework

1. 1.1 Please provide all Treasury policies, guidance, circulars, or instructions relating to the recognition, acceptance, rejection, dishonour, or accounting treatment of Bills of Exchange tendered to Crown agencies or their agents.
2. 1.2 Please confirm whether Bills of Exchange are recognised within Crown accounting and public finance frameworks as payment instruments or conditional settlement instruments, and if so, under what conditions.

2. Obligations of Crown agencies

1. 2.1 What obligations do Crown agencies have when a Bill of Exchange is tendered in relation to an alleged debt, tax, rate, levy, or charge?
2. 2.2 Are agencies required to formally respond to such instruments by acceptance, rejection, or dishonour, and within what timeframe?
3. 2.3 What is the accounting status of an alleged liability while a Bill of Exchange tendered in respect of that liability remains unresolved?

3. Enforcement during unresolved instruments

1. 3.1 Is it lawful or appropriate for enforcement, penalties, collection activity, or delegated recovery action to continue while a Bill of Exchange tendered in respect of the same liability has not been accepted or dishonoured?
2. 3.2 Who bears responsibility or liability for enforcement action taken in circumstances where a payment instrument remains unresolved?

4. Delegated agents and banks

1. 4.1 What oversight does Treasury exercise over banks or third-party agents acting on behalf of Crown agencies or local authorities in relation to debt recovery or rates processing?
2. 4.2 What responsibilities do such agents have to recognise, process, or respond to Bills of Exchange tendered in respect of liabilities they are administering?

5. Records held by Treasury

1. 5.1 Please provide any records held by Treasury relating to complaints, escalations, reviews, or internal discussions concerning Bills of Exchange tendered to Crown agencies which were not formally dishonoured.
2. 5.2 Please provide any records addressing enforcement or recovery activity continuing while such instruments remained unresolved.

6. Systemic governance and correction

1. 6.1 What steps does Treasury require Crown agencies to take where a Bill of Exchange has been tendered and not resolved, before enforcement or recovery action proceeds?
2. 6.2 What corrective or governance mechanisms exist to prevent enforcement action being taken on disputed or unresolved ledger entries?

 

Clarification

This request is made at a systemic level. We do not seek Treasury to adjudicate individual cases at this stage. However, we note that multiple unresolved instruments exist across agencies and beneficiaries, and that enforcement activity has continued notwithstanding those unresolved instruments.

Please respond electronically.

Kind regards,

Tracy Lynch
Attorney acting under instruction of the Trustees
InLandsAirWater Counsel – Private Trust