Serious Fraud Office

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  • Jan.06.2019: Fraud trial of former Barclays bosses puts SFO under scrutiny. Serious Fraud Office will hope major case starting this week is not another high-profile failure. A long-awaited fraud trial of 4 former Barclays executives will begin this week over charges related to a £12bn rescue package secured from investors including Qatar at the height of the financial crisis. The trial will also put the SFO’s reputation on the line, after two of its high-profile cases were scrapped this year alone. Charges against former Tesco executives, accused of being masterminds behind a major accounting scandal, were thrown out in Dec.2018 after a judge deemed the case too “weak” to face a jury. The SFO also saw its case against Barclays bank – which is separate to the case against the ex-bosses – over the Qatar fundraising dismissed by the court in Southwark last year. The SFO later lost a high court appeal to reinstate those charges. The court failures were embarrassing for the SFO, which also faced criticism for the collapse of a 2016 trial against brokers accused of helping the convicted trader Tom Hayes rig the Libor rate. Barclays still faces the threat of a £1.5bn civil case over the Qatar funding later this year. The case is being brought by the businesswoman Amanda Staveley through her firm PCP Capital Partners, alleging fraudulent misrepresentation and deceit over the terms given to potential investors of the emergency fundraising. Kalyeena Makortoff, The Guardian.
  • Apr.20.2018: Serious Fraud Office given 50% rise in funding. The SFO said yesterday that its core funding for the next financial year had been lifted 54% to £52.7m. It has reached a new deal with the Treasury over the “blockbuster funding” provided for its largest investigations. David Green steps down as director. Today is his last day in the office. Mark Thompson, chief operating officer, is taking over on an interim basis. Harry Wilson, The Times.
  • Mar.31.2018: Serious Fraud Office kept waiting on choice of new director to succeed Green. The govt has yet to appoint a director of the Serious Fraud Office less than 3 weeks before the departure of its present boss, raising questions about the recruitment process. Under David Green the SFO, which was founded in 1988 to prosecute serious and complex frauds involving more than £1 million, has taken on high profile cases against Barclays, Tesco and Rolls-Royce, among others. Many in London’s legal world expect Alun Milford, the SFO’s general counsel, to be named to replace Mr Green on an interim basis, with a view to possibly replacing him permanently. Other legal sources say the SFO will appoint an external candidate, with one senior source saying that the government had interviewed a shortlist of outsiders and was likely to hire a lawyer in private practice. Harry Wilson, The Times.
  • Jan.17.2017: SFO completes £497.25m Deferred Prosecution Agreement with Rolls-Royce plc. The agreement follows the SFO’s 4-year investigation into bribery and corruption, an investigation which continues into the conduct of individuals. The indictment covers 12 counts of conspiracy to corrupt, false accounting and failure to prevent bribery. The conduct spans 30 years, and involves Rolls-Royce’s Civil Aerospace and Defence Aerospace businesses and its former Energy business, and relates to the sale of aero engines, energy systems and related services. The conduct covered by the UK DPA took place across seven jurisdictions: Indonesia, Thailand, India, Russia, Nigeria, China and Malaysia. Serious Fraud Office.
  • Sept.28.2015: SFO probes 'whether Bank of England advised lenders during auctions'. Banks were allegedly told to offer the same amount of collateral during the auctions for central bank funds - which were held during the financial crisis when money markets froze - so no single financial institution would stand out as being at risk and needing more emergency cash. Mark Carney, the Bank's governor, told MPs that the central bank had uncovered 50 instances of market manipulation. An independent report published last year into the scandal reserved its criticism largely to Martin Mallett, the Bank of England's former chief currency trader, saying he should have told his superiors about his concerns. Mr Mallett was fired over unrelated conduct issues, which Mr Carney later revealed amounted to more than 20 violations of Bank rules. MPs questioned Lord Grabiner's report. Andrew Trotman, The Telegraph.
  • Dec.11.2012: First arrests in Libor manipulation case. British police have made their first arrests in an investigation into attempts by banks to manipulate the global benchmark interest rate Libor, detaining three men after their homes were searched. The Serious Fraud Office began its inquiry in July after Barclays (BCLYF) admitted rigging Libor and agreed to pay $453m to settle with US and UK authorities. The scandal cost Barclays' chief executive Bob Diamond his job. "Libor" is short for the London Interbank Offered Rate, a measure of the cost of borrowing between banks. It is a collection of rates generated for 10 currencies across 15 different time periods, ranging from one day to one year. An estimated $300trn in derivatives products around the world is tied to Libor. {{{website}}}.