SFO targets bribery

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has toughened up its Bribery Act 2010 guidelines on facilitation payments, self-reporting and corporate hospitality.

Its previous guidance, published in 2009, indicated it would favour civil settlements where companies self-report. Now, it says self-reporting is “no guarantee that a prosecution will not follow”, and will be taken into consideration only where it is part of a “genuinely proactive approach” on the part of the management.

On facilitation payments, the SFO states that “this is a type of bribe and should be seen as such”. Previously, its guidance indicated it would take a softer approach, owing to the endemic nature of facilitation payments in some countries. Where bribes are disguised as business expenditure or corporate hospitality, the SFO says it will prosecute where it is in the public interest and there is a realistic prospect of conviction.

Paul Huck, director of Zolfo Cooper’s forensic and litigation support services, says: “[This] is a strategic move by the new director of the SFO, David Green, to impose a more aggressive stance by the SFO, which has had its critics in the past few years, against those involved in bribery and corruption—no more perceived ‘cosy’ chats and civil settlement.

“Whatever the reasons, the SFO does appear to be taking a tougher, criminally focused, stance on those involved in bribery and corruption.”