UK Bribery Act

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What Price Privacy? UK Drive For Foreign Owners’ Transparency

I wanted to take a moment to thank WealthBriefing.com for featuring my recent article “What Price Privacy?  UK Drive for Foreign Owners’ Transparency”. As the geopolitical landscape evolves and global financial sanctions take hold,  the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill introduced into UK law this month is worth reviewing.  Will the new legislation prevent … Continue Reading

Serious Fraud Office: Apparent Renewed Faith

In the first part of this two-part post, we looked at some of the infamous cases that may explain repeated attempts by Theresa May, first as Home Secretary and later as Prime Minister, to dismantle the SFO, see here. Our attentions now turn to the important role the SFO continues to play in combatting corruption, … Continue Reading

Serious Fraud Office: Boost to Coffers Is Vote of Confidence

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) recently received an unexpected, yet significant, increase in baseline funding for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. The funding boost comes in spite of Prime Minister Theresa May’s previous efforts, following several high-profile prosecutorial setbacks for the SFO, to fold it into the UK’s National Crime Agency (“NCA”). Relatedly, a new … Continue Reading

Canada Outlaws Facilitation Payments

Facilitation payments are no longer exempt under Canada’s Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act.  On October 30, 2017, Global Affairs Canada, which manages diplomatic relations and promotes international trade, announced the end of the exemption.  This change was initiated in 2013 but delayed to give companies time to adjust their policies and procedures.  Effective October … Continue Reading

Criminal Finances Act 2017 – New Corporate Offences of Failing to Prevent Facilitation of Tax Evasion

The United Kingdom’s National Risk Assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing in October 2015 identified three priority risks faced by the UK and concluded that a more robust enforcement response is required. These changes were to be underpinned by a partnership between the government and the private sector to effect a significant change in … Continue Reading

Rolls-Royce Set to Avoid Prosecution After Bribery Settlement

Rolls-Royce has agreed to pay £671 million in penalties in response to several long-running bribery and corruption investigations.  Regulators in the UK, the United States and Brazil investigated claims that Rolls-Royce had paid bribes to intermediaries to secure high-value export contracts in a number of overseas markets, including China, Brazil and Indonesia. In a press … Continue Reading

Serious Fraud Office Publishes New Guidance on the Presence of Lawyers at Section 2 Criminal Interviews

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has published new guidance on the presence of lawyers at section 2 interviews in criminal investigations conducted under section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987, typically with potential witnesses. The SFO guidance follows the decision of R (Lord and Others) v SFO[1], in which it was ruled that the … Continue Reading

Fighting Corruption and Fraud- the ICU and SFO

The United Kingdom’s regime against bribery, corruption and fraud is operating in a new landscape following the introduction in August 2015 of the International Corruption Unit (ICU), a new governmental agency created under the auspices of the Department for International Development (DFID). The latest step in the clampdown on nefarious business practices came as the … Continue Reading

First Company Convicted of Bribing Foreign Officials Ordered to pay £2.2 million

Smith and Ouzman Ltd and two of its directors, were convicted by a Jury under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 (POCA) in December 2014, although the company was finally sentenced on 8 January 2016. The company was convicted under the previous legislation because the offences pre-dated the Bribery Act 2010. The small family run … Continue Reading

Deferred Prosecution Agreements: The Sign of Things to Come?

In a landmark decision, the first Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”) was approved  on Monday at the Royal Courts of Justice, by Lord Justice Leveson.  The DPA was introduced as a means of alternative disposal following a criminal investigation into a corporate organisation back in February 2014, under the Crime and Courts Act 2013[1]. It is … Continue Reading

UK Government makes U-turn on the reform of corporate criminal liability

In September 2014, the new Attorney General, Jeremy Wright, revealed that the government was considering introducing a new offence of corporate failure to prevent economic crime, such as fraud and money laundering, similar to the corporate offence in the UK Bribery Act 2010 of an organisation failing to prevent bribery. In its UK Anti-Corruption Plan, … Continue Reading

Cooperation is Key – Scottish Company receives civil penalty for contravention of Bribery Act

Brand-Rex Limited, a Scottish company specialising in developing cabling solutions for network infrastructure and industrial applications, has become the first UK Company to be penalised for contravention of Section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010. The company avoided criminal prosecution and was instead ordered to pay £212,800 by way of a civil recovery order after … Continue Reading

SMEs and the UK Bribery Act – Compliance may not be as difficult as you fear!

Despite the fact that the Bribery Act 2010 (the “Act”) came into force on 1 July 2011, a recent government study has found that only two-thirds of SMEs are aware of the Act or its corporate offence for failure to prevent bribery (under section 7 of the Act). Of those that were aware of the … Continue Reading

New EU directive allows public contract suppliers convicted of corruption to “self-clean” their bad behaviour

The Public Contacts Directive (2014/24/EC – the “2014 Directive”)[1] sets out the legal framework for public procurement when contracting authorities seek to acquire supplies, services, or works (e.g. civil engineering or building). The intention is that procurement rules become simpler and more flexible. Despite the 2014 Directive not requiring transposition into Member States’[2] law until … Continue Reading

Is the First UK Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) on the Horizon?

The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has publically announced that it has sent out the first invitation letters offering DPAs to corporations. In this blog we discuss: the definition of a DPA; the new attitude in relation to DPAs and movement towards the first DPA; and co-operation with the SFO– dos and don’ts. Quick Recap: … Continue Reading

Five Minutes on… Anti-Bribery and Corruption Laws in Europe

Anti-bribery and corruption has been a hot topic in the US for almost 40 years. The topic has historically however received much less attention within Europe. That is now changing as Europe is beginning to catch up and many European countries have already implemented anti-bribery laws much stricter than those in the US. Recent events … Continue Reading

The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) gets serious

Reports suggest that the SFO is currently investigating and prosecuting serious allegations of complex fraud and corruption. The announcement this spring that the SFO had started an investigation into the Bank of England’s actions following the rigging rumours, (as reported by the BBC amongst others) demonstrates its intention to pursue high-profile offenders. David Green, who … Continue Reading

UK company director jailed for bribing public officials in Africa

In order to win a contract worth £2.26m for making ballot papers, Smith and Ouzman Ltd, a printing firm based in Sussex, gave £395,074 in corrupt payments to public officials in Kenya and Mauritania. In February 2015, Southwark Crown Court jailed Nicholas Smith, the Sales and Marketing Director, for three years and handed his father, … Continue Reading

Pursue, Prevent, Protect and Prepare – The UK Government’s Anti-Corruption Plan

The UK Anti-Corruption Plan, published in late 2014, sets the strategic direction for anti-corruption activity in the UK. It contains 66 action points that the UK government will undertake by the end of 2015 in line with four components: Pursue – prosecuting and disrupting people engaged in corruption; Prevent – preventing people from engaging in corruption; … Continue Reading

The UK Bribery Act – what to expect in 2015

We have reported previously that the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has confirmed its commitment to prosecuting bribery and corruption and that although there is yet to be a “big case” under the UK Bribery Act 2010, the SFO are busy investigating companies it suspects may have broken the law. As we approach the end … Continue Reading

GSK BRIBERY CASE – END OF THE MATTER?

This article was originally published by LexisNexis and is reproduced with permission. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been fined £300 million and five of its employees given suspended prison sentences in China for bribery – but is this the end of the matter? What impact will the verdicts have on other multinational companies conducting business in China? … Continue Reading

Real, honest cooperative action – the key to obtaining a Deferred Prosecution Agreement in the UK

In a July 1 speech to the UK Aerospace and Defence Industry Seminar, Ben Morgan of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) discussed his recommendations for how companies seeking Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) should interact with the SFO. His resounding message was cooperation on the part of the company, not just “the impression of cooperation” but … Continue Reading

UK Serious Fraud Office launches investigation into GlaxoSmithKline in relation to claims of foreign bribery

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) has launched a formal criminal investigation into GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and its “commercial practices”, understood to mean allegations of foreign bribery. David Green CB QC, Director of the SFO, said back in 2012 that only the largest cases, that prevented UK companies from competing for big contracts on a level … Continue Reading
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