SFO outgunned by UK firms that spend millions more on lawyers to ‘buy impunity’ November 15, 2021 Companies under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office have spent up to ten times more than the fraudbusters on legal and investigation fees, causing major corruption cases to crash and burn, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has found. The UK’s only complex fraud agency’s fight against economic crime is undermined by its lack of funding, [...]
KPMG faces £15m fine over Quindell audit November 10, 2021 Accounting giant KPMG could be confronted with a £15m legal claim from insurance outsourcer Quindell, according to reports. Quindell, now known as Watchstone, is preparing to file claims against the Big Four firm, alleging that it suffered losses of up to £15m from KPMG’s audit in 2013, according to Financial News, which first reported the [...]
SFO arrests flight-risk suspect of car-leasing investigation October 20, 2021 The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has arrested a suspect that was being investigated as part of an ongoing enquiry into the Raedex Consortium, which includes companies such as Buy2Let Cars and Paygo Cars. Considered a flight-risk, the suspect was apprehended with the help of the Surrey Police and is being questioned by SFO officers. Today’s [...]
Petrofac fined £77m for string of Middle Eastern bribery charges October 4, 2021 Petrofac has been fined £77m for seven separate charges of failing to prevent bribery in the Middle East, to which the London-listed oil services provider plead guilty last month. The penalty, for failing to prevent former Petrofac employees from offering or making payments to agents in relation to projects awarded between 2012 and 2015, is [...]
City corruption: Company of Tory donor Ayman Asfari paid tens of millions in bribes across Middle East October 3, 2021 A company whose biggest shareholder is a major Tory donor did not stop its employees from paying out more than £32m in bribes in order to secure a range of contracts across the Middle East. Petrofac, one of the world’s largest service providers to oil and gas producers, won business worth £2.7bn in Iraq, Saudi [...]
SFO launches money laundering probe into £150m leasehold investment schemes September 29, 2021 Following a dawn raid this morning, the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched a fraud and money laundering investigation into two companies that are suspected of having misled investors into funnelling around £150m into fraudulent leasehold schemes across the country. A group of Alpha-branded companies is being investigated for fraudulently misleading investors into purchasing [...]
Petrofac cuts plea deal with UK’s serious fraud watchdog September 25, 2021 Oil services group Petrofac has cut a plea deal with the UK’s fraud watchdog in a bid to bring a close to a long-standing inquiry. The London-listed group has been at the centre of a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) inquiry into suspected bribery, money laundering and corruption. Petrofac plead guilty to seven separate charges of [...]
City bribery: British American Tobacco accused of arranging Mugabe bribe September 13, 2021 One of the largest tobacco companies in the world has been accused of bribing Robert Mugabe, the former president of Zimbabwe. City-based British American Tobacco (BAT) was part of negotiations to pay between $300,000 and $500,000 to Zanu-PF, Mugabe’s political party in 2013, according to a BBC Panorama investigation, which will be aired this evening. [...]
Serious Fraud Office probing O2 bribery allegations September 5, 2021 Telecoms giant O2 is being investigated Serious Fraud Office reportedly over allegations of bribery involving the company’s executives. The company revealed in a financial statement that it is cooperating with the SFO, following its merger with Virgin Media. O2’s recent £31bn merger with Virgin Media makes the new company the UK’s largest network, ahead of [...]
Corruption in the City: Pinning down companies’ criminal accountability July 28, 2021 This summer marked 10 years since the UK Bribery Act 2010 came into force. Amongst many new powers granted under the law, a particularly significant one was that of the ‘failure to prevent’ corruption or bribery, under which businesses could be held liable and responsible for the actions of their subordinate, unless they had sufficiently [...]