Documentary Evidence and Prevalence of Documents Usage in Fraud Investigation: Enforcement Agencies Perspectives

摘要

Documentary evidence includes any information that can be adduced at trials and it can be in physical form or electronically stored information such as drawings, graphs, writings, sound recordings, photographs, images, charts, data and other types of data or information stored in anymedium. Handling civil crime cases such as fraud, embezzlement, and corruption may occasionally lead to failure due to the inability of the court to conduct a proceeding because there is no admissibility of a document. Hence, it is imperative to understand the prominence and the role of documentaryevidence to prosecute fraud perpetrators. This study is conducted to determine the importance and adequacy of documents used as evidence, the process involved in obtaining them, the prevalence of documents used in the investigation, and the challenges involved. The interviews conducted withthe representatives from the enforcement agencies revealed that documentary evidence is of paramount importance, especially in fraud trials; in fact, it can become a major evidence. The respondents also explained the process involved, the prevalence of documents used, and the challenges encountered.The limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed in the conclusion section of this study.