SFO can only cut deals if it seen as a credible threat to those making bribes, say campaigners
Auditors should be sifting ‘more diligently’ through company accounts to root out bribery by UK companies overseas.
Officials of Global Witness made the demand in response to proposals being considered by the Serious Fraud Office that companies could cut deals to admit bribery in return lighter sentences.
In a letter to the Financial Times the Global Witness officers said: ‘The SFOs capacity to investigate foreign bribery should be massively reinforced, not pared back. We also need a crackdown on offshore tax havens that launder bribes and a requirement for auditors to sift more diligently through company accounts, especially in high-risk industries such as oil and arms.’
Global Witness argues there is only value in cutting deals if there is a real fear of being prosecuted and currently the SFO does not present that fear.
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