The International Development Secretary announced the formation of a specialist unit, the International Corruption Unit (ICU), to deal with this important area of corporate criminal offending.
The unit will draw on the resources from agencies including the Metropolitan Police, City of London Police, and the National Crime Agency. The ICU will be operated by the NCA and, according to the Government, will be “the central point for investigating international corruption in the UK”. It does not say that the unit will be given any additional funding, and it is not immediately clear where the SFO, who have been investigating and prosecuting bribery and corruption to date, will stand as far as this new unit is concerned.
The UK has a poor record in this field, despite the recent focus by the SFO, and with the prospect of a FATF audit looming in spring 2016 something has to be seen to be done.
What is of immediate interest is that this new unit brings back the ownership of these investigations and prosecutions to the Police and the NCA, reaffirming that these offences are criminal offences and not a ‘spinoff’ from civil litigation, which is how most City law practices view this area when advising their corporate clients. The emphasis on criminal investigations is exactly what David Green QC, head of the SFO, has been saying all along.
The Police will use established investigative methods; City of London Police have had a very effective specialist overseas corruption unit in place for a number of years, and the NCA relies primarily upon intelligence gathering, e.g. probe evidence and tapped phones and computers. This will bring into focus criminal disclosure, privilege, conflict issues, criminal interviews by experienced police officers under caution, search and seizure, etc.
The NCA’s approach is aggressive and they have encountered serious recent criticism from senior judiciary concerning their approach to warrants and disclosure, amongst other issues.
The Government press release states that the Department of International Development has “Since 2006 … investigated more than 150 cases of overseas bribery and recovered £200 million of stolen assets as well as successfully prosecuting 27 individuals and one company.” It is difficult to see how that record can be improved upon without any additional funding.
Contact Lewis Nedas Expert Lawyers
Should you or your company find itself the subject of such a bribery and corruption investigation by the ICU or the NCA, you will need to instruct specialist criminal lawyers with extensive, proven experience of successfully defending these investigations/prosecutions, for the reasons alluded to earlier in this piece. Find out more here or contact our specialist lawyers on 0207 387 2032 or complete our online enquiry form here.