Regulator’s new enforcement proposals meet with mixed reviews from experts May 9, 2023 Plans to encourage self-reporting from financial firms under investigation have received mixed reviews from regulation experts. Under proposals set out last week, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) said subjects under investigation could halve their fines by cooperating early in the investigation. The PRA said the so-called ‘early account scheme’ is designed to provide “greater clarity [...]
Failure after failure at the Serious Fraud Office has made a mockery of its mission March 30, 2023 Fraud cases are getting more complex and hard to deal with, but we can't underestimate another factor: the record of the Serious Fraud Office is far from perfect, writes James Forder
ENRC: UK’s Serious Fraud Office must share blame for its former lawyer’s leaks, Dechert tells High Court March 15, 2023 US law firm Dechert has accused the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of knowingly cultivating an “improper relationship” with its former partner, corrupt City lawyer Neil Gerrard, in an ongoing legal battle concerning Kazakh mining firm ENRC. The law firm’s charge comes as it responds to a High Court claim by ENRC, which is seeking [...]
Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG vows to fund steel producer ABB’s fight against New York bankruptcy case March 14, 2023 Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance has set out its plan to block steel producer Aartee Bright Bar (ABB) from being forced into bankruptcy. The conglomerate, which fully acquired the Midlands company last month, said it would ask a court to block New York investment fund FGI from plunging ABB into insolvency. GFG said its rescue plan [...]
Calls to overhaul ‘antiquated’ trial rules grow as SFO forced to drop G4S case March 14, 2023 The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on Friday said it would be dropping its case against three former G4S executives over claims they defrauded the UK government of tens of millions of pounds. The collapse of the SFO’s case came after G4S itself took responsibility for the fraud that saw it mislead Britain’s Ministry of Justice [...]
Charges dropped against three former G4S executives accused of defrauding taxpayers March 10, 2023 Charges have been dropped against three former executives of G4S’s electronic tagging arm who were accused of defrauding the Ministry of Justice following a 10-year investigation. G4S Care and Justice Services had provided electronic monitoring services to the government from 2005 to 2013. The subsidiary of security giant G4S was accused of misleading the MoJ [...]
SFO under fire for ‘huge mistakes’ and wasting millions of taxpayers’ cash in 10-year probe of G4S March 10, 2023 The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has come under fire for wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money and making “huge mistakes” in its 10-year investigation into G4S’s electronic tagging arm as charges against three former executives were dropped. In September 2020, former managing director Richard Morris, former commercial director Mark Preston and former finance manager [...]
UK’s Serious Fraud Office should cover ENRC’s £21m costs in corruption investigation, London’s High Court hears March 6, 2023 Kazakh mining company ENRC today said the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) should, alongside US law firm Dechert, cover extra costs it accrued because of ex-City lawyer Neil Gerrard’s decision to leak company information to the fraud investigator, leading to the launch of a 10-year probe into the former FTSE 100 firm. At the opening [...]
UK’s Serious Fraud Office to face Kazakh miner ENRC in court as decade-long legal fight continues March 6, 2023 The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will today face Kazakhstani mining company ENRC in London’s High Court, as it continues its fight against the British government agency almost 10 years after it first launched an investigation into the former FTSE 100 firm. The SFO first launched its investigation into ENRC in April 2013 in relation [...]
Glencore fined £582m by US court for bribing African and South American officials March 1, 2023 Glencore has been fined $700m (£582m) over the corruption scandal that saw the company’s execs pay more than $100m in bribes to officials in Africa and South America. A New York court has ordered Glencore to pay a $428.5m fine and forfeit a further $272m, after the commodities giant agreed a plea deal last May. [...]