The Sentencing Council has published their definitive Sentencing Guideline on fraud, bribery and for the first time a money laundering guideline acknowledging the importance of money laundering in criminal law and policy.
In short, the guideline which comes into effect on 1 October 2014, increases sentences dramatically and puts the victim (and impact upon the victim) at the centre of the sentencing process. The Guideline is yet another piece of excellent work from the Council and has taken several years to research and perfect. It broadens the definition of victim impact, to include, for example, if the type of fraud increases insurance premiums.
Additionally, it increases fines for criminally offending corporates, e.g. those companies that bribe foreign officials will, from October, face fines up to 400% of the profits that they have made from criminal activity.
This puts the fine levels closer to some of the US fines which the authorities there have been handing down. This is important because of the number of multi -jurisdictional corporate criminal investigations on going at the moment, there has to be some consensus re punishment and fine levels for it to work effectively. It will also prevent jurisdiction shopping amongst the larger companies with a broader international reach.
The fine will increase if the Court finds that there are aggravating features to the case, e.g. withholding information from the investigating authority/misleading investigations/destroying documentation… then the fine will undoubtedly be at the time of the scale.
The Financial Times (22/05/2014) continues by highlighting the request by the Director of The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to extend s7 Bribery Act 2010 to make a company liable for a broad range of white collar crime e.g. money laundering, a request which appears to have found sympathy with the Attorney General Dominic Grieve.
Certainly, now the authorities have all the necessary tools and apparatus to effectively deal with corporate crime including Deferred Prosecutions agreements as of February 2014. All they need now is a proper budget from Government.
The author was a member of The Sentencing Council until March 2013 and advised upon the consultation prior to the definitive guideline on this subject.
If you or your company are facing any related investigation please contact our specialist lawyers on 020 7387 2032 or by completing our online enquiry form here.