Rescue teams are searching for a New Zealand teenager missing after a boat carrying him and three other people capsized in Bangladesh, officials say.

Albert, 16, whose surname was withheld by police, went missing after the boat overturned in rough waters on Tuesday morning (all times local) near an estuary off Cox’s Bazar on the country’s southeastern coast.

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The other three New Zealanders on the boat were rescued by fishermen nearby.

“The Coast Guard is searching for the boy while a helicopter is conducting an aerial search. Fishermen have also been alerted about the missing teenager,” an official told AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Rescue efforts have been hampered by rough conditions in the Bay of Bengal, he added.

Mohammad Ali, the officer-in-charge of Cox’s Bazar police station, said the four had been on a trip when the boat met with an accident.

Local media reports said the four were from the same family but officials were unable to confirm that information immediately.

– AFP

A man charged with human trafficking and migrant exploitation is accused of deceiving staff recruited from overseas by promising them they would be paid for all hours they worked.

One of the staff – who was recruited from India – is alleged to have been paid 36 hours per week despite working a minimum of 54 hours.

The man, listed as a company director, is also accused of failing to pay staff for working public holidays, inciting staff to breach conditions of work visas and altering employment agreements to reduce the pay rates.

RNZ earlier revealed a Christchurch man, who has interim name suppression, faced 35 charges under the Crimes Act and Immigration Act.

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Immigration New Zealand (INZ) earlier confirmed the charges, which relate to 11 complainants, include allegations of “trafficking in persons and migrant exploitation”.

Court documents seen by RNZ reveal the man, aged in his 50s, faces three charges of arranging, organising or procuring the recruitment of a person into New Zealand “knowing that recruitment involved one or more acts of deception”.

Two of the complainants were from India, and the third from Saudi Arabia.

The court documents say the defendant recruited them knowing that the terms and conditions of their employment would be “materially different” from what was promised verbally and in their individual employment agreement “namely that all hours he worked would be paid by the employer”.

The man also faces charges of supplying information to an immigration officer knowing that it was false or misleading, inciting or procuring people to breach the conditions of their work visas, and failing to pay minimum wage.

He also faces two charges of obtaining by deception by altering the original terms of an employment agreement to reduce pay rates.

One court document says that between November 2020 and June 2022 the man is accused of employing at least five people before their visas were approved.

INZ national manager of investigations Jason Perry earlier told RNZ the charges related to the alleged exploitation of 11 people.

“Trafficking in persons and migrant exploitation are serious offences that can have a significant impact on victims. INZ is committed to identifying, investigating and prosecuting this offending where there is sufficient evidence to do so.”

Perry said the charges followed a “complex investigation” by INZ’s immigration compliance and investigations team.

“As the matter is now before the courts, we are unable to make any further comment on the allegations, evidence, or the defendant at this time.

“INZ encourages anyone who suspects migrant exploitation or trafficking in persons offences being committed to report it so it can be assessed and investigated.”

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The government is looking to tighten up the rules covering wholesale investment offers, amid concern the current rules are too permissive.

A report by law firm Chapman Tripp says proposed reforms set out in a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) discussion document could attract “significant industry pushback” particularly on the promotion of wholesale investment offers.

The changes contemplated by MBIE focus on whether:

Chapman Tripp partner Penny Sheerin said wholesale investment offers were not suitable for inexperienced investors.

“The risk to people offering these deals at the moment is that they have investors who are unsuitable within their investor base, who are really retail investors, who are perhaps inappropriately certifying themselves as eligible investors because they wish to participate in a wholesale offer that may appear attractive to them, but isn’t actually suitable for them based on their level of experience in investing,” Sheerin said.

The Chapman Tripp report also warned there were risks the regulations could go too far.

“So, for example, I think going too far would be licensing wholesale offerors,” Sheerin said.

“That would be something that we wouldn’t support, particularly given the global portability of capital and the risk that New Zealand investors may just then simply invest offshore.”

The report said some of the reforms could add unnecessary compliance costs.

The partners said concerns about inappropriate advertising of wholesale offers were legitimate, but it was critical that the detailed implementation did not unduly restrict capital-raising in the wholesale sector.

“We are not aware of other countries seeking to licence wholesale offerors and would not support such a move given the global portability of capital and the risk that New Zealand investors may simply invest offshore,” the report said, adding there were better ways to manage the risks.

The report said wholesale offers were already under the microscope through the Financial Market Authority’s (FMA) recent regulatory proceedings and enforcement actions, with an ongoing focus on wholesale issuer conduct, a thematic review in late 2022, and the High Court judgement concerning eligible investor certificates in late 2025.

A High Court decision in September 2025 affirmed that eligible investor certificates could generally be relied on, unless there was reason for further investigation.

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