Theresa May’s Conservative manifesto pledge to subsume the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into the National Crime Agency (NCA) was absent from June’s Queen’s Speech, with lawyers welcoming the prospect of the merger being shelved.
The speech, outlining the next two years’ statutory agenda, instead introduced a UK repeal and a customs bill and related European legislation to replace the EU’s customs regime, the world’s largest by economic output.
Only days before, the SFO announced its first criminal charges against Barclays’ bankers arising from the 2008 financial crisis, following a five-year investigation. Led by David Green QC, the office investigates and prosecutes complex fraud, bribery and corruption.
Asked whether the government still sought to merge the two bodies, a Cabinet Office spokesperson told Legal Business that it continued ‘to review options to improve the effectiveness of the UK’s response to economic crime, and any measures resulting from this work will be announced in due course’.
The proposal to merge with the NCA, a non-ministerial government body led by Lynne Owens and tackling cyber crime, modern slavery and organised immigration crime, was met with criticism by white-collar crime and fraud lawyers.
Pinsent Masons’ Barry Vitou said the Attorney General and some MPs had voiced support for the SFO in June, adding that the omission should signal ‘the end of the proposal’.
‘Diluting the concentration of expertise at the SFO just didn’t make sense,’ Vitou said. He added it was ‘so important to keep a level playing field in the fight against fraud’ and the SFO’s rationale was ‘as good now as when it was founded in 1987’.
‘Considering the complexity of the task the SFO faces and its routine under-resourcing, it is doing a good job. Now the SFO looks set to stay, the focus must shift to ensure it is properly funded.’
The SFO reached a £671m settlement earlier this year against Rolls-Royce and a £129m settlement against Tesco.
Kingsley Napley’s Stephen Parkinson told Legal Business he was ‘confident’ the policy would not be revived due to the government’s ‘weak parliamentary power’.
Byrne and Partners’ Michael Potts said a merger would ’cause the momentum of the proper prosecution of serious fraud and corruption or bribery, to stall just when the SFO is getting some traction’.
The Queen’s Speech also introduced more national policy plans – customs, trade, immigration, international sanctions, nuclear safeguards – seeking to divorce Britain from the EU. Hogan Lovells partner Charles Brasted said these would be a ‘moving target’.
tom.baker@legalease.co.uk