Blog
Private prosecutions – A route to justice for the charity sector
Sophie Tang
30 August 2019
SFO guidance on co-operation: more carrot than stick?
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was established to investigate and prosecute cases involving serious or complex fraud, a mission that inevitably leads it to the corporate sector. In 2010, it was given two significant tools in dealing with companies: a simple route to corporate criminal liability for bribery cases in the Bribery Act 2010 (the stick); and a means of incentivising a company fixed with corporate criminal liability to co-operate with the SFO by entering into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) and so avoiding a conviction (the carrot).
7 August 2019
Regulatory proceedings: no longer least said, soonest mended
The Divisional Court (the Court), consisting of Lord Justice Hickinbottom and Mr Justice Butcher, considered the poignant topic of whether a fitness to practise panel can draw adverse inferences from a doctor’s failure to give evidence at a hearing in R (on the application of Kuzmin) v General Medical Council [2019] EWHC 2129 (Admin)
5 August 2019
Proceeds of Crime: new Asset Recovery Action Plan seeks to leave “no safe space” for dirty money
On 12 July, the Home Office published its new Asset Recovery Action Plan (“the Plan”) to complement the National Economic Crime Plan 2019 to 2022. In it, the government expresses its clear intention to attack criminal finances still more robustly and to hit hard at the “common thread that runs through almost all offending” – money. The Plan continues: “The vast majority of criminality is driven by money, so it is vital that we are relentless in our pursuit of the illicit finances that criminals acquire to fund their criminal lifestyle and commit further crime…”
2 August 2019
AML failure: Gambling Commission takes action
The Gambling Commission announced on 31 July that it had taken action against Ladbrokes Coral Group for anti-money laundering failings in breach of its licence conditions to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 (in addition to breach of its social responsibility code provision in respect of customer interaction.
30 July 2019
Common ‘good character’ issues when applying to naturalise as a British citizen
The good character requirement in nationality applications has recently been put in the spotlight with Parliament’s Human Rights Committee expressing its 'deep concern' for children who are being denied their right to claim British nationality. We look at the application of the good character requirement to adults applying to naturalise as British citizens and the possible knock-on effect on their children’s applications to register as a British citizen.
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