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SFO

Courts Reject Claim that Bribery Raids Were Unlawful

Neil Baker July 14, 2011

The UK Serious Fraud Office can restart its bribery investigation into Alstom after the courts refused a legal challenge from two of the engineering company's directors.

Fraud Chief Warns Foreign Companies as Bribery Act Goes Live

Neil Baker July 01, 2011

Britain's tough new anti-bribery legislation finally took effect today, and was greeted with a warning from the head of the Serious Fraud Office that foreign companies would be in his firing line.

British Fraud Agency Reprieved, For Now

Neil Baker June 10, 2011

The British government has dropped its controversial plan to scrap the Serious Fraud Office, which investigates and prosecutes financial crime, at least for now. The original plan was to split its responsibilities between the newly created National Crime Agency and the Economic Crime Agency. That plan is now on hold until those agencies are fully operational.

Criminals Only Winners From British Fraud Plan

Neil Baker April 28, 2011

The U.K. government is coming under further pressure to abandon controversial plans to scrap the Serious Fraud Office, the agency responsible for prosecuting high-profile financial crimes.

U.K. Reconsiders White Collar Crime Shakeup

Global Glimpses November 25, 2010

The British government is scrapping a controversial plan to put its new Economic Crime Agency in charge of securities fraud. The move was part of a proposal to abolish the Financial Services Authority and the Serious Fraud Office and transfer their workload to two new agencies. The government is still working on plans to overhaul its network of financial regulatory and enforcement agencies.

New Zealand Fraud Busters Tackle Top Businessman

Global Glimpses June 28, 2010

New Zealand’s recently overhauled Serious Fraud Office has shown its intent to tackle white collar crime, launching an investigation into one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen.The SFO has started to probe the affairs of Allan Hubbard related to his Aorangi Securities mortgage company and seven charitable trusts. The government has...

U.K. Creates Enforcement Super-Agency, Killing SFO

Global Glimpses May 21, 2010

The U.K.’s newly elected coalition government has said it will create a new enforcement agency to tackle serious white-collar crime, stripping other regulators of their powers in this area and abolishing the troubled Serious Fraud Office.The move was unveiled in a document released this week that sets out the government’s...

Jailed Corruption Whistleblower Wins Sentence Appeal

Global Glimpses May 13, 2010

A U.K. appeals court has overturned a controversial decision to jail an executive who cooperated with the Serious Fraud Office in a high-profile corruption case.Robert Dougall, former marketing director at healthcare company DePuy International, pleaded guilty to corruption charges last month under a plea deal agreed upon with the SFO.The...

SFO Plea Plans Hit as Judge Jails Exec

Global Glimpses April 15, 2010

Efforts by the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office to use plea bargaining as a way of dealing with financial crime were dealt a further blow this week when a judge jailed an executive who had cooperated with the agency.Robert Dougall, a former marketing director at Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy International,...

Judge Puts U.K. Plea Deals in Doubt

Global Glimpses March 30, 2010

The U.K. Serious Fraud Office’s strategy for tackling financial crime has been thrown into doubt after a senior judge criticized the plea deal that the agency reached with a company guilty of paying bribes.In his judgment on the case, Lord Justice Thomas, the U.K.’s deputy head of criminal justice, said...

Campaigners Lose Bid to Block BAE Plea

Global Glimpses March 25, 2010

Two anti-corruption groups have lost their court battle to delay approval of a controversial plea bargain between the U.K. Serious Fraud Office and arms company BAE Systems.The defeat for protest groups Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade clears the way for BAE to plead guilty to charges it agreed...

Bribery Campaigners Try to Wreck BAE Plea

Global Glimpses February 18, 2010

Two anti-corruption groups have started legal action aimed at wrecking a controversial plea bargain reached between the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office and arms company BAE Systems.The SFO had spent years investigating suspicions that BAE used bribery and corruption to secure deals worth billions of pounds in several countries, but ten...

BAE Agrees to $450m Settlement; Gets Off Lightly?

Global Glimpses February 08, 2010

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SFO Charges BAE Agent Over Arms Deals

Global Glimpses January 29, 2010

The U.K. Serious Fraud Office’s investigation into suspected bribery and corruption involving arms company BAE Systems has finally led to someone being charged with a criminal offense. An Austrian aristocrat, Count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, was charged in connection with defense contracts between BAE and certain countries in Eastern and Central Europe....

U.K. Seeks to Prosecute BAE; Plea Deadline Expires

Global Glimpses October 01, 2009

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U.K. Court Accepts First Bribery Plea Bargain

Global Glimpses September 28, 2009

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