It has finally come to pass: the first deferred-prosecution agreement under the U.K. Bribery Act!
In a courtroom in London, in late November, the Serious Fraud Office and attorneys for the defendant Standard Bank (now known as ICBC Standard Bank) convened to seek formal judicial approval of a DPA for the bank’s conduct in failure to prevent payment of bribes, made illegal under Section 7 of the Bribery Act. The bribes were paid out by an affiliate of the London-based institution, Stanbic Bank Tazania.
