Tesco announces Deferred Prosecution Agreement
It was announced last week that Tesco PLC’s subsidiary, Tesco Stores Ltd, has finalised the terms of a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the SFO (subject to court ratification on 10 April 2017). The DPA concludes the SFO’s two-year investigation into accounting practices in 2014 that left a £326 million […]
UK/European crime-fighting coordination post Brexit “a priority”
As anticipated in our blog last June, the impact of Brexit on how the UK’s crime-fighting agencies will interact with their European counterparts is now firmly on the agenda. On 6 March, the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, announced that remaining in the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) system will be “a […]
UK Government responds to International Development Committee’s Fourth Report 2016/2017
In October 2016, the International Development Committee put forward 13 recommendations for the improvement of the UK Government efforts to tackle overseas corruption. Last month the UK Government published its response. The Government agreed with seven recommendations: assess the extent of money laundered through the UK and continue to lobbying […]
Government considering reform to hold companies more accountable for economic crime
The Ministry of Justice has announced that it has commenced a consultation with businesses on the introduction of legislation aimed at tackling corporate economic crime and is seeking views on the extent to which reform is required. This follows on from the Prime Minister’s anti-corruption summit on 12 May 2016 […]
The new Criminal Finances Bill setting out new anti-money laundering powers has had its first reading
On 13 October 2016 the Criminal Finances Bill (the “Bill”) had its first reading in the House of Commons. In addition to introducing Unexplained Wealth Orders (described in our blog below), the Bill sets out a number of new anti-money laundering powers. The Bill will: enable the seizure and forfeiture […]
New crime bill to introduce Unexplained Wealth Orders
The Government is due to publish a new proceeds of crime bill tomorrow, which will introduce Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs), as reported in The Times (paywall). UWOs would allow the police to apply for an order to require individuals to explain their source of wealth where it exceeds their lawful income. […]
Home Affairs Select Committee concludes UK needs to do more to address money laundering and corruption
The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee has published a report entitled ‘Proceeds of Crime’ in which it is highly critical of the efforts being made and systems in place in the UK to prevent money laundering and to recover the proceeds of crime. Chair to the Committee, Rt Hon […]
UK’s Serious Fraud Office secures second deferred prosecution agreement – this time with the UK Subsidiary of US Corporate
Lord Justice Leveson has approved the Serious Fraud Office’s (“SFO’s”) second application for a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”). The Agreement is with a company which cannot be named because of continuing related legal proceedings. The first DPA was with ICBC Standard Bank in December 2015. Further agreements under the DPA […]
Beyond the Bribery Act
A recent petition heard in the Scottish Court of Session Outer House has highlighted the wide-ranging implications of the Bribery Act 2010 in the UK beyond the criminal offences of the Act itself. The petition was brought by the former Chief Executive of a company, Mr Gray, who participated in […]
Backwards Tracing takes a step forward
The Privy Council recently extended the availability of ‘tracing’ in a novel way to increase the options available to states seeking to recover stolen property. Before this decision a state could only trace property that had been altered, say by sale or transfer, into the proceeds of that alteration if those proceeds did not exist […]