By Maria Ward-Brennan
The head of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has said he is ready to put the agency’s new powers to use to help investigate and prosecute fraudsters.
The prosecutors new investigative powers, which come into force today, allow the agency to collect information and evidence before an investigation is opened.
The SFO’s investigative powers are provided by Section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act, and can be used to send somebody a notice compelling them to provide information to the agency. Before today, those powers could only be used after an investigation has been formally opened by the director.
The SFO hopes that this change will help speed up complex fraud and bribery investigations.
The new powers were passed in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, which now also makes it easier to prosecute companies, by holding them criminally liable for the actions of senior managers that commit financial crimes.
Until this change, UK prosecutors have been forced to prove that offences were committed by the “directing mind and will” of a corporation in order to prosecute a company, which often meant providing evidence that the board or C-suite execs were involved.
Commenting on new investigative powers outlined in the law, Nick Ephgrave, director of the SFO, told City A.M.:“I welcome this new legislation. It provides the most significant addition to the Serious Fraud Office’s armoury in recent years.
“These new tools will help us to prevent, investigate and prosecute serious fraud, and we are ready to put them into action.”
