Archive for June 2012

The Bribery Act: Year of the Sleeping Dragon

This Sunday (1 July), will be the first anniversary of the Bribery Act 2010 coming into force. Going strictly by the numbers, the sole prosecution of Redbridge Magistrates’ Court clerk Munir Patel, convicted in October of accepting a bribe to remove a motoring conviction and sentenced to six years imprisonment (later reduced to four) falls on the fine line between damp squib and abject failure.

What to do next if the inspector calls – dawn raids and unannounced visits

Last month it was reported that the SFO had not conducted any ‘dawn raids’ in the 12 months to 31 March 2012, a statistic which compares dramatically with the average of around 50 a year in the three preceding years. The reason for the impasse has been attributed to the implications of mistakes made in the Tchenguiz brothers investigation but this has been denied by the SFO. Whatever the reason, such news serves as a reminder of the investigator’s favoured technique of acting without prior notice to obtain evidence from a suspect or custodian of material that might be relevant to an investigation.

Avoidance schemes – a morally taxing issue

Tax evasion is illegal. It is deliberately not paying the tax that is due. Tax avoidance, however controversial, is not illegal. It is paying the least amount of tax possible, whilst staying within the law. Average Joe, if offered a completely legal way of paying less tax, would likely jump at the chance. Many of us use ISAs to avoid paying tax on our savings. Moreover, ‘responsible tax planning’ is actively distinguished by the treasury and will not be affected by proposed new legislation. But where is the line to be drawn between this, and millionaires paying as little as 1% tax?

New SFO Director David Green’s first public speech

“Piffle”. That was the round response of the new SFO Director, David Green, to adverse press speculation about the future of the SFO, linked to the visit by the CPS Inspectorate and current High Court litigation.

Today at the Corporate Accountability conference in London, sponsored by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, the new SFO Director set out his stall for the first time in a public speech. The SFO’s “fuzzy” role is to be refocused on “top drawer” fraud, cases which undermine confidence in UK PLC and serious corruption. It will also tackle, in the public interest, cases which other bodies are not set up to handle including those relating to new species of fraud but out go the “boiler room” frauds and other cases of less public interest significance.