Serious Fraud Office successfully prosecutes its first Bribery Act case
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Serious Fraud Office successfully prosecutes its first Bribery Act case
The SFO have got off the starting blocks with its first successful prosecution of two individuals under the Bribery Act 2010. The case centred on the selling and promotion of investment products based on green biofuel tree plantations in Cambodia. As well as Bribery Act offences, the individuals were also charged with other offences, including conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to furnish false information and false trading. They were both given hefty prison sentences. This was pretty high level stuff, although in 2011, the Crown Prosecution Service prosecuted a court administrator who took bribes to turn a blind eye to speeding offences. That prosecution demonstrates that the CPS and other prosecuting authorities will run with cases involving significantly smaller sums where the evidential and public interest tests are met.