criminal-law civil-law fraud civil-procedure
Do civil courts have the power to force a criminal investigation after it finds evidence of fraud?
<p>Say a person sues a fraudster in civil courts. Upon showing evidence of fraud, can the court, <strong>through request of the plaintiff</strong>, request a criminal investigation on the fraudster?</p>
<p>I would presume such criminal investigation when instructed by the courts will be of higher priority to law enforcers.</p>
<p>To put into context, I am currently suing a fraudster and would like to know if it is possible to request the courts to instigate a criminal investigation on the fraudster.</p>
<p>For a jurisdiction, I am based in Australia (though I am happy to accept answers from any other jurisdictions as well)</p>

<h2>No</h2>
<p>The police and the office of the public prosecutor have discretion in which cases they investigate or prosecute. The court may refer an instance of criminality to them but they are under no obligation to do anything with that referral.</p>
