The Environment Agency has launched a new Economic Crime Unit (ECU) to tackle serious financial offences in the waste sector. The launch comes after the Environment Agency’s National Waste Crime Survey 2023, which found that nearly one-fifth of all the waste produced in England was perceived to be illegally managed. Coupled with this, industry research […]
On Tuesday, a German court found a former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner guilty of aiding and abetting dividend tax fraud, in connection with the ‘cum-ex’ scandal. Former head of tax, Ulf Johannemann, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for his role in the fraud, having assisted the now-defunct Maple Bank to […]
The recent decision in AXA Insurance v Kryeziu, a low-value insurance dispute, provides welcome clarification of what is required of victims of fraud in both their pleadings and disclosure, and the consequences of failing to comply. In this article for Fraud Intelligence, Philip Gardner and Abbie Melvin review the facts and findings of the case, […]
Central to the determination of many court cases – whether in the popular imagination or the hard reality of the English High Court – is credible, tested and persuasive evidence from witnesses of fact. This is usually to be given by the witness’s oral evidence in public (CPR 32.2(1)). However, in a number of cases, […]
Under upcoming plans from the Prudential Regulation Authority, banks in the UK that self-report wrongdoing early could benefit from an “enhancement settlement discount”. The plans are to be fleshed out by the spring but, under the scheme, fines could be reduced by up to half. James Tyler was quoted in an article by Banking Risk […]
In this article for LexisNexis Corporate Crime expert, Diana Czugler and Joseph Duggin discuss key economic crime developments in 2023 and what to keep an eye on this year. One key development is the new failure to prevent fraud offence and expansion of corporate criminal liability for economic crimes and the impact this might have […]
Having spent years looking with envy at the US, where ‘plea deals’ are commonly used, UK enforcement agencies finally got a similar weapon in their armoury in 2014, with the introduction of deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs). However, since the first one was approved in late 2015, only 13 DPAs have been concluded. The Law Society […]
Many of the underlying principles of English law developed from simple cases of relatively low monetary value, perhaps most famously in the foundational negligence case of Donoghue v Stevenson. The recent decision in AXA Insurance v Kryeziu [2023] EWHC 3233 (KB), a low-value insurance dispute, is a useful reminder that no matter the garden variety […]
In August 2023, then Home Secretary Suella Braverman wrote to all senior policing officials in England and Wales, commending them for their “agreement to a national commitment to follow all reasonable lines of enquiry [sic] for all crime types”. The letter, covering a wide range of topics, was clearly focussed on trying to encourage the […]
Late 2023 brought a welcome development in the fight against fraud, as the UK government concluded the Online Fraud Charter with various industry representatives. The Charter represents a practical step by which online giants can move towards countering the extremely high proportion of online fraud. To take on the current fraud epidemic, however, it will […]
