
IR-01-26-11044
16 April 2026
S.I
[FYI request #34269 email]
Dear S.I
Information Request
I refer to your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request dated 27 March 2026, in which you
requested the fol owing information:
1. A breakdown of work hours spent by police over the course of this operation,
including any time spent during the prosecution of the offenders i.e time spent in court,
case management etc.
2. The total dollar amount of police salary and overtime costs associated to those work
hours
3. The total dollar amount of the entire operation including any additional costs incurred
for surveil ance, investigations, translators, accountants etc.
Due to the nature of Police time recording, a ‘
breakdown of work hours’ is not captured or
recorded specific to an investigation. Investigators do not record the number of hours they
spend on specific case files and wil usually work across a number of files concurrently.
Therefore, the ‘
total dollar amount’ cannot be provided as it is unable to be determined.
In some instances, working hours and overtime (including that for translators and solicitors) can
be assigned a project code, however project codes are not a mandatory requirement and there
is no project code associated with Operation Chartreuse.
Therefore, in relation to questions 1, 2 & 3, as the information requested is not held by Police
your requests are refused pursuant to section 18(g) of the OIA.
As previously advised questions 4 & 5 were transferred to the Official Assignee for response.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Detective Inspector Christopher Al an
Field Crime Manager – Financial Crime Group
New Zealand Police
Police National Headquarters
180 Molesworth Street. PO Box 3017, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
Telephone: 04 474 9499. Fax: 04 498 7400. www.police.govt.nz