Companies might want to think more critically about entering a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.K. Serious Fraud Office and, instead, take their chances with a trial following a trio of high-profile corruption cases in which the SFO failed to secure individual convictions after the companies entered plea deals for related offenses.
“There seems to be a pattern in recent years where the company accepts culpability, but then the individuals involved are tried and acquitted,” says Syedur Rahman, legal director at U.K. firm Rahman Ravelli. “This raises the question of whether companies should blindly accept DPAs or have a jury determine criminality.”
