Earlier this year, former Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the Government would consult on creating a new offence of failing to prevent economic crime. It appears that momentum is once again gathering behind the proposed new offence with the consultation process to begin shortly. SPEED READ If a controversial new law is introduced in […]

More than just ‘box ticking’ When the Bribery Act was introduced into the UK in 2011, the most significant change to the pre-existing law was the establishment of the corporate offence of failing to prevent bribery – an organisation is liable to prosecution if an associated person (who performs services for or on behalf of […]

  What has happened? The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) secured a recent victory against foreign bribery when, on 19 February 2016, Sweett Group Plc (Sweett), a company headquartered in London, was sentenced and ordered to pay GBP 2.25 million (USD 3.15 million) following its conviction under the UK Bribery Act. The conviction is in […]

The case was the first in relation to Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) in the UK AND Disposal of an offence under section 7 of the UK Bribery Act in respect of failing to prevent bribery by an associated person. First Deferred Prosecution Agreement in UK The DPA relates to allegations that the Bank failed, contrary […]

Herbert Smith Freehills’ have launched the first global edition of our Anti-corruption Report, touching on investigations, reforms and perceptions in close to 100 countries. The report also summarises the key long-arm statutes, the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act, and how they have been deployed in the past year against companies […]

The legal concept of “adequate procedures” was introduced in the UK Bribery Act in 2010 as a defence to the corporate offence of failing to prevent bribery. That said, the concept itself has in fact been present in corporate compliance programs for many years and, whilst the English Courts have yet to determine exactly what […]

In April 2015, the UK Bribery Act (UKBA) celebrated its fifth birthday. In the same month, the Serious Fraud Office brought a third round of corruption charges under the UKBA in the Alstom case. Those allegations, brought against Alstom Network UK and one of its former employees, add to the expanding case against multiple UK […]

On 1 July 2011 the Bribery Act 2010 (the Act) came into force. The Act is a significant piece of legislation which no company doing business in the United Kingdom can afford to ignore. The practical effect of the Act is that it obliges any business operating in the United Kingdom to review its policies […]