The Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO’s) long-awaited first prosecution under the UK Bribery Act began yesterday (23 September), as four men from biofuel investment promoter Sustainable AgroEnergy went on trial in Westminster Magistrates Court.
Four of the men, all former employees of AgroEnergy, which parent company Sustainable Growth is now in administration, are charged with conspiring to conduct a £23m fraud operation in relation to the promotion and selling of bio fuel investment products to UK investors between April 2011 and February 2012, while three of them are also charged with making and accepting a financial advantage contrary to section 1(1) and 2(1) of the act.
