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Foster Wheeler Limited a UK registered subsidiary of a complex group, part of which is listed on the USA's NASDAQ and therefore falls within the jurisdiction of many US laws even though it is a Swiss domiciled subsidiary of a UK group. Amongst those is the Foreign Corrupt Payments Act or FCPA. This relates to payments by a person with a US footprint making corrupt payments to persons outside the USA. Foster Wheeler Energy Limited is also part of the same group and is also a UK registered company. That brings its actions squarely within the remit of the Serious Fraud Office, regardless of where those actions take place. Moreover, there are agreements with Ministério Público Federal (‘MPF’), the Comptroller General’s Office (‘CGU’) and the Solicitor General (‘AGU’) in Brazil.

A deferred prosecution is a device used by prosecutors to allow suspected criminals to buy what amounts to a judicially approved arrangement to avoid prosecution so long as the accused meets certain conditions for a certain period of time. Critics (of which this newspaper is one) see it as a bribe; supporters see it as a way of compelling the accused to do whatever it is that the prosecuting authority wants. Developed in the USA, there is a global move towards adoption of this tactic. The former head of the UK's Serious Fraud Office was a fan; he's been replaced by an American who has been immersed in this system. How's it going?

On Friday 13th July 2018, the UK's Serious Fraud Office obtained, from a Magistrates' Court, a warrant for the arrest of Benedikt Sobotka has been issued over his failure to appear for questioning in an ongoing corruption investigation into ENRC and related companies. Failure to appear when required to do so is itself a criminal offence, independent of the allegations under investigation.

BIScom Subsection: 

A report in yesterday's Law Society's Gazette quotes a passage from a speech given by David Green, the outgoing head of the Serious Fraud Office under whose watch the SFO's performance has seen a significant improvement. But there is one area where this publication forcefully disagrees with him: the development of US-style Deferred Prosecution Agreements. In his speech, he speaks strongly in favour of them, it is reported.

CoNet Section: 

Our sister publication, World Money Laundering Report, has always adopted the view the Deferred Prosecution Agreements are legalised bribery to enable companies and their officers to evade prosecution for crimes committed.

Alun MIlford, General Counsel of the UK's Serious Fraud Office argues, in a speech to the Cambridge Symposium on Economic Crime, 2017, that the DFA is a useful tool, and that the UK version is materially different from the US version on which it is based.

BIScom Subsection: 

The UK's Serious Fraud Office secured a conviction against Ponzi scheme operator David Gerald Dixon in November last year. In addition to a jail sentence, he was ordered to surrender GBP275,000 in respect of proceeds of his crime. The deadline for payment has passed and the Order has not been satisfied.