July 21, 2021
On 19 July 2021, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) received approval by Mrs Justice May for separate Deferred Prosecution Agreements entered into with two UK-based companies for bribery offences. These are the eleventh and twelfth DPAs secured by the SFO.
The two DPAs share a common Statement of Facts. The criminal conduct saw bribes paid in relation to multi-million pound UK contracts. The charges relate to offences contrary to s.1 and s.7 of the Bribery Act 2010.
The SFO cannot identify the companies for legal reasons. The case appeared in the court list as AB Ltd and CD Ltd.
The two companies will pay a total of £2,510,065, comprising disgorgement of profits and a financial penalty.
Trevor also represented the SFO in R v Guralp Systems Ltd, which was the sixth DPA to secure approval.
The DPAs only relate to the potential criminal liability of the companies and do not address whether liability of any sort attaches to any current or former employee or agent of the companies. Upon determining the issue of approval of the DPAs, the Court did not make findings of fact. No process took place by which the culpability of individual people was determined or assessed.
More information here: [Serious Fraud Office]