Fraud Newsletter 24 October 2018

November 5, 2018

Fraud Newsletter 24 – October 2018

CASES

Corporate LPP: SFO not appealing SFO v ENRC [2018] EWCA Civ 2006: Reuters 2 Oct 18.

Appearance of Judicial bias: judge’s role to be a neural arbiter: Conviction quashed: Myers [2018] EWCA Crim 2191 (Westlaw).  A judge who oversees a trial should not sit on the appeal:  Stubbs, Davis and Evans v The Queen [2018] UKPC 30.

Contempt by Expert witness: criminal standard of proof. Judge must be sure witness knew statement was false or did not care if it was true or false or likely to interfere with administration of justice: Liverpool Victoria Insurance Co. Ltd v Khan & others [2018] EWHC 2581 (QB)

No general victim’s right to review decisions not to prosecute under Art 11 of Directive 2012/29/EU: R (AC) v DPP[2018] EWCA Civ 2092.

SARs: Claimant’s right to inspect SARs if necessary for fair disposal of claim:Lonsdale v NatWest Bank [2018] EWHC 1843 (QB)/

Theft of Land: a house is annexed to land and land cannot be stolen and the trustee exception did not apply on the facts: see s4(2) Theft Act 1968. Where no conspiracy to defraud involved prosecutors should use the Fraud Act 2006:Gimbert 2018] EWCA Crim 2190]. [Interesting obiter statement:“[§43 . .it is not every case of exploitative, unscrupulous or manipulative conduct which necessarily is or should be required to attract a criminal sanction.”]

First Unexplained Wealth Order: UWO challenge successfully resisted by NCA: no right to anonymity: NCA v Mrs A [2018] EWHC 2534 (Admin).

SENTENCING AND CONFISCATION

Misconduct in public office: police officer pleaded to selling details of 21,802 road traffic accidents to solicitors making £363k over 7 years: 5 years reduced to 4: Mungur [2018] EWCA Crim 1062; [2018] 2 Cr.App.R(S) 33 (Westlaw).

BILLS, STATUTES & STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS

CPR changes under Criminal Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2018 now in force: Whats’s New? MoJ 2 Oct 2018

Crim.P.D. changes: (1)   Criminal Practice Directions Amendment No. 7 in force as from 1 Oct. 18: (2)  CTJ Summary of Key Changes; (3) Consolidated CrimPD with Amendment No 7

Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Bill: at HL report stage 22 Oct 18. Bills allows law enforcement/prosecutors to apply to UK courts for an overseas production order (OPO) to obtain electronic data from service providers outside UK.

Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (External Investigations and External Orders and Requests) (Amendment) Order 2018 S.I. 2018 No. 1078 extends the ambit of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (External Requests and Orders) Order 2005 S.I. 2005 No. 3181 to include forfeiture of “listed assets” and the ambit of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002  (External Investigations) Order 2014 S.I. 2014 No. 1893) to include UWOs (Unexplained Wealth Orders).

CONSULTATIONS, GUIDANCE, CIRCULARS AND REPORTS

8th Code for Crown Prosecutors: in force on 26 Oct 18: summary of changes: 24 Oct 18

FATF Money Laundering Risk-Based Approach (RBA) Guidance documents: 25 Oct 18

For the Securities Sector

Life Insurance Sector

 Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risks in the E-Money Sector: FCA Thematic review: 3 Oct 18

Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Control in Overseas Jurisdictions: HM Treasury Advisory Notice updated 25 Oct 18

EU Combating Money Laundering Directive 556/18 adopted: 11 Oct 18 Member states have 24 months to implement it. Introduces tougher ML rules to disrupt and block access by criminals to financial resources.

NEWS

Barclays Trial:  High Court rule against SFO application to reinstate charges dismissed in the Crown Court. The trial on remaining charges listed for 9 Jan 19.  The current director, Lisa Osofsky has recused herself from dealing with the case because of potential conflicts arising from her previous work in the private sector. Oversight will be provided by General Counsel, Alun Milford: 26 Oct 18.

Cash controls on monies leaving and entering EU to be strengthened: 2 Oct 18

Euribor / Conspiracy to defraud:  German national extradited from Italy and charged by SFO: 21 Oct 18.

Firms named and fined for failure to comply with MLR: total £5.99m: HMRC 4 Oct 18.

FCA fines Tesco Bank £16.4m (includes 30% discount) for lack of due care etc. re Nov. 2016 cyber-attack: 1 Oct 18.

DoJ investigating Estonian branch of Danske Bank in £177B (billion) money laundering: Guardian 4 Oct 18

Ofcom fine Royal Mail £50m for abuse of dominant position: Case summary: 14 Aug 18 and Non confidential infringement decision: published 26 Oct 18.

NHS Fraud: New Government plans announced to combat prescription fraud: 23 Oct 18

Paddy Power pay £2.2m to Gaming Commission for ML failures: 16 Oct 18

SFO launch investigation into Patisserie Valerie: suspended Finance Director arrested: 12 Oct 18

Stop Cartels Campaign launched by CMA calling for more whistle blowers: 22 Oct 18