On 8 April 2019, the UK Supreme Court granted KBR Inc. leave to appeal against a decision that allows the SFO to compel certain foreign companies to hand over documents held overseas. The Supreme Court’s decision was published on 23 May 2019 (see here). KBR Inc. is appealing the judgment in R (on the application of KBR Inc) v The Director of the Serious Fraud Office [2018] EWHC 2012 (Admin) (KBR v SFO), in…

In a speech earlier this week  Lisa Osofsky announced that the SFO will shortly publish guidance on its expectations in relation to self-reporting and cooperation. The speech suggested that waiver of privilege over internal investigations material will be seen by the SFO as a strong indicator of, if not a precondition to, cooperation for the purposes of the SFO initiating DPA negotiations: “….companies can waive that privilege if they wish to cooperate… I will soon be…

Earlier this month, the House of Lords Select Committee (the Committee) on the Bribery Act 2010 published its Post-Legislative Scrutiny Report. The Report provides a useful summary of prosecutions under the Bribery Act and the debate surrounding “adequate” and “reasonable” procedures,  and offers insight into the limited extent to which Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) lead to bribery investigations. Surprisingly, however, the Report considers the use of deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) but does not deal with…

Deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) have been a mainstay of the recent initiatives to deter corporate offending and change companies’ behaviour. They offer corporate offenders the chance to defer criminal charges provided they comply with financial penalties and other conditions agreed with a prosecuting authority. They are intended to broaden the range of tools available to prosecutors when dealing with economic crimes (namely fraud, offences under the Bribery Act 2010 and money laundering offences). They also…

The SFO has this week confirmed that it will not appeal the Court of Appeal’s recent decision addressing, in particular, fundamental issues as to the ambit of litigation privilege in investigations (ENRC v SFO [2018] EWCA Civ 2006). A more detailed summary of the case and its practical implications is available here. The decision of the SFO not to appeal the decision means that English law will be left with a narrow concept of…

Introduction The judgment in R (on the application of KBR Inc) v The Director of the Serious Fraud Office [2018] EWHC 2012 (Admin) came out on Thursday, 6 September 2018. In summary, the Administrative Court held that section 2(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 (CJA), which (broadly) gives the SFO power to require a person to produce specified documents in connection with an SFO investigation, has certain extra-territorial effect. The Court held that section…