Fraud Newsletter 26 – DECEMBER 2018
CASES
Nothing of moment.
SENTENCING AND CONFISCATION
Holmes Financial Services v ICO EA/2018/0030 UKFTT (21 Aug 18): appeal against £300k MPN (Monetary Penalty Notice) for contravention of PECR (Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 SI 2003 No. 2426) for 8.7m unsolicited marketing calls between Oct 15 and July 16. Appeal Dismissed.
Committal for non-payment of confiscation requires (i) a finding the default is due to wilful (i.e. deliberate) refusal or culpable neglect; and (ii) all other methods of enforcement have been considered and either tried unsuccessfully or rejected as inappropriate: R (Beach) v Folkestone JJ [2018] EWHC (Admin) 2843 (Goose J) (Westlaw).
BILLS, STATUTES & STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS
Draft Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 published 30 Nov 18
Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018 SI 2018 No. 1337 adds due diligence measures on use of anonymous safe-deposit boxes; deals with appeals under the principal regs; extends the ambit of permitted disclosure of information.
CONSULTATIONS, GUIDANCE, CIRCULARS AND REPORTS
Cross-Government Fraud Landscape Annual Report 2018 focusing on public sector fraud (detected fraud £119m: error £72m; fraud prevented £45m: total recovered £52m); launch of Government Counter Fraud Profession (GCFP).
Disclosure: Review of the efficiency and effectiveness of disclosure in the criminal justice system: A-G: report 15 Nov 18
Disclosure: Response to Justice Select C’tee Report: Cm 9744: MoJ 13 Dec 18
Fighting the Crime of Foreign Bribery: OCD Working Group report: 11 Dec 18
Guidance on financial crime systems and controls: insider dealing and market manipulation: FCA FG18/5: 13 Dec 18
SFO Director (Lisa Osofsky) evidence to HoC Justice Select C’tee: (70 min video feed) 18 Dec 18:
- LO reviewed all cases to review evidence against each suspect and determine strength;
- LO reviewed external intelligence links and contacts for each case where relevant;
- General Counsel to be removed from management, and dedicated to objective case review, check and quality control;
- New post of Chief of Intelligence;
- New Treasury funding top-ups where cases exceed £2.5m;
- Seeks review of corporate identification. Large companies should not be able to avoid prosecution re fraud and economic crime because the law is outdated. Wrong to be able to tackle Main St but not Wall St.
- DPAs help to raise bar of corporate culture, but will not be a preferred solution to prosecution.
UK AML and Counter-Terrorism Financing Measures: Mutual Evaluation Report: FATF and Executive Summary: 7 Dec 18
UK Anti-Corruption Strategy 2017-2022: Year 1 Update: Home Office: 12 Dec 2018
NEWS
Charity Commission warning of inadvertent terrorist funding in Syria and Turkey: 3 Dec 18.
First UK DPA ends successfully: ICBC standard Chartered bank paid $26m in fines, disgorgement of profits and $6m to Tanzania and fully complied with enhanced corruption control mechanisms: 30 Nov 18.
EU adopt action plan for extended AML monitoring: 4 Dec 18
Foreign Bribery unchecked in over half of global trade: Transparency International: 12 Sep 18
New incorporation checks for compliance with UN sanctions: Companies House 5 Dec 18
SFO Tesco executives trial: CA uphold no case to answer: 6 Dec 18. Tesco had previously agreed to a DPA on 10 Apr 17.
Full trials using video hearings criticised by judges: £1.2b court modernisation: 6.5k court and back office job to go by 2022: Guardian 20 Dec. 18