The government's finances have taken a $331 million hit, largely due to problems recovering money from failed South Canterbury Finance's tangled set of related party loans.

Prime Minister John Key was called a liar when he fronted a meeting in Timaru last night packed with vocal Allan Hubbard supporters. The PM was forced to defend the Govt's handling of South Canterbury Finance to a bositrous 500-strong crowd

The value of large frauds brought before the courts rose to $100 million in the second half of last year.

Simon Power's decision to put Allan Hubbard in a commercial straitjacket leaves the Government "tailend Charlie" for the $2 million plus the Timaru financier's legal boys have chalked up.

Telecom has asked the SFO to investigate an alleged breach of its database that allowed rival Slingshot to gain access to customer information.

The former national property manager for the ACC has plead guilty to corruption charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office.

Australian fraud detectives are investigating more than 50 complaints against Loizos Michaels, who calls himself 'The Phantom'.

An Auckland businessman has been jailed for stealing $1.4 million from a family-owned business.

Allan Hubbard wants Simon Power to review the basis on which a slew of Hubbard-related companies were slapped into statutory management.