The Financial Times has reported that a review of the UK Bribery Act is set to be announced next month as the UK government seeks to reduce the cost of compliance for small- and medium-sized businesses. The main focus of the review will apparently be facilitation payments. These are small payments given to officials to … Continue Reading
This post was also written by Fionnuala Lynch. Earlier this month, Richard Alderman, Director of the SFO, was speaking at an international symposium on economic crime in Cambridge and made an interesting point which has been picked up by many UK newspapers. He referred to the fact that 20 years ago, it was possible for … Continue Reading
The first person to be charged under the new Bribery Act will be a magistrates court clerk who allegedly accepted £500 for fixing a motoring offence. The Crown Prosecution Service (“CPS”) has decided to prosecute Munir Yakub Patel who faces a charge under Section 2 of the Bribery Act for allegedly requesting and receiving a … Continue Reading
This post was written by Simon D. Hart. After months of speculation, and rumoured turf wars within the UK government, it has today been confirmed that the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) will not be broken up and will remain independent of the new National Crime Agency (“NCA”). The SFO will retain both its investigative … Continue Reading
On 30 March 2011, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Director of Public Prosecutions published their joint guidance for prosecutors (the Guidance) for offences under the UK’s new Bribery Act, which comes into force on 1 July 2011. This coincides with the publication of the final guidance issued by the Department of Justice on … Continue Reading
The waiting is over! At last the UK Ministry of Justice has published guidance about procedures which commercial organisations can put into place to prevent persons associated with them from bribing. The Act will now come into force on 1 July 2011. The guidance offers non-prescriptive procedures and commentary on the scope of the Act. … Continue Reading
This post was also written by Simon Hart. In advance of the much anticipated consultation in the United Kingdom on the creation of the proposed Economic Crime Agency (“ECA”), which is due to take place this spring, the Home Office announced this week that it plans to take a greater role in the fight against … Continue Reading
This post was also written by Simon Hart. On January 13, 2010, the London Evening Standard reported that Prime Minister David Cameron’s office has ordered a review of the new UK Bribery Act as a result of strong concerns expressed by UK business leaders and others about the potential adverse impact the Act might have on … Continue Reading
