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1 – 10 of over 4000The work of the Serious Fraud Office, its structure and its powersare described. Changes in court procedure have resulted in improvementsin time and clarity of presentation of…
Abstract
The work of the Serious Fraud Office, its structure and its powers are described. Changes in court procedure have resulted in improvements in time and clarity of presentation of evidence in these most serious and complex cases of fraud. The SFO has developed a computer‐based document‐control system, providing accurate records and also creating a database for instant recall.
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The Serious Fraud Office was set up on the recommendation of the Roskill Committee by the Criminal Justice Act 1987. It is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of…
Abstract
The Serious Fraud Office was set up on the recommendation of the Roskill Committee by the Criminal Justice Act 1987. It is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of serious and complex fraud. In recent years the Office has been criticised for the way in which it handles cases, largely as a result of the perception that there have been too many acquittals in the cases which it has chosen to prosecute. In this interview, Matthew Weait discusses the role and aims and problems of the Office with its present Director, George Staple. Mr Staple considers the problems which the Office faces, the extent to which he considers criticism justified and wider issues relating to the effective prosecution of fraud. George Staple, 52, took up the post of Director in April 1992. Formerly senior litigation Partner of Clifford Chance, he was appointed in 1986 as a Companies Act Inspector. Between 1987 and 1991 he sat as a Chairman of the Authorisation and Disciplinary Tribunal of the Securities Association and the Securities and Futures Authority. For many years Mr Staple was a member of the Commercial Court Committee and served as Treasurer of the Law Society from 1989 to 1992.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate threats to dissolve the New Zealand Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as interpreted through the public press.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate threats to dissolve the New Zealand Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as interpreted through the public press.
Design/methodology/approach
An institutional approach is adopted in this case, and the analysis is driven by Oliver's understandings of antecedents to deinstitutionalization. Relevant press articles are reviewed, and SFO history and New Zealand socio‐political context inform the analysis.
Findings
The paper identifies over 1,800 articles (September 2003 to October 2008) and analyses the content of those 157 that contain views on the SFO itself. This analysis reveals that while there is a strong political antecedent to the proposed change, the media is dominated by weakly evidenced but emotive functional and social arguments. The susceptibility of the SFO to political influence, and a less‐than‐fully engaged media, is shown to provide a risk of deinstitutionalization to this politically dependent office.
Research limitations/implications
Conclusions suggest how a relatively new and possibly politically naïve organisation may be, by necessity, starting to come to terms with its own external dependencies.
Social implications
The SFO may be evolving new relational norms in response to its own vulnerabilities in a political environment. There may be lessons for others in this analysis of a norming process, and further research into such processes would be a rich area for further study.
Originality/value
The contribution is in forming an understanding of the media patterns and in analysing what they convey as to the threatened deinstituitonalization of the SFO.
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The New Zealand Serious Fraud Office (NZSFO) was set up in 1989 in response to issues arising out of the 1980s financial crisis, in particular the share‐market crash of 1987. In…
Abstract
The New Zealand Serious Fraud Office (NZSFO) was set up in 1989 in response to issues arising out of the 1980s financial crisis, in particular the share‐market crash of 1987. In the short period of about a year the total sum thought to be involved in corporate fraud schemes in New Zealand had increased dramatically, from NZ$10m–15m before 1988 to NZ$50m–70m in 1989. Consequently, the Department of Justice proposed setting up a specialist institution and legal mechanisms for the investigation of serious or complex fraud.
This article reviews 69 press releases published by the Norwegian Økokrim from June 2022 to November 2023. The presented research applies the theory of focal concerns to identify…
Abstract
Purpose
This article reviews 69 press releases published by the Norwegian Økokrim from June 2022 to November 2023. The presented research applies the theory of focal concerns to identify the main themes in the press releases.
Design/methodology/approach
Serious fraud offices such as the Norwegian national authority for investigation and prosecution of economic and environmental crime (Økokrim) are facing many challenges when combating white-collar and corporate crime. Press releases represent an element of facing such challenges, as the messages are an important vehicle for the organization to disclose organizational activities to the public.
Findings
Three themes emerged: offender conviction, impression management and crime deterrence. Offender prosecution followed by offender conviction is at the core of Økokrim's business. Impression management serves the purpose of emphasizing the important role of the national authority in society. The subjective perception of detection and prosecution by potential offenders can be influenced by crime deterrence messages.
Research limitations/implications
Press releases are signals that may be interpreted in other ways.
Practical implications
When politicians are to review national authorities, they may want a slightly different serious fraud office.
Social implications
The deterrence effect is often not real for alleged white-collar crime.
Originality/value
Understanding a national authority in terms of its focal concerns based on press releases from the authority.
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Describes the 1985 Roskill Committee Report on Fraud Trials as a success: of its 112 recommendations only two were not implemented. Explains why Roskill is nevertheless often…
Abstract
Describes the 1985 Roskill Committee Report on Fraud Trials as a success: of its 112 recommendations only two were not implemented. Explains why Roskill is nevertheless often criticised: there is a lack of resources for fraud investigation, while the amount of computer‐generated data in modern fraud cases is huge, and the demands on the jury much greater. Outlines the work of the Serious Fraud Office, of which the author is Director. Asks what can be done to remedy the lack of resources, given that the number of police squads dedicated to fraud investigation has shrunk over recent years. Assesses how the nature of fraud itself has changed since Roskill: there is much more of it, it is more closely linked with general criminality, and it uses the ever more sophisticated methods of information technology. Suggests that there should be a general offence of fraud, that juries might be replaced in fraud cases, and that there should be more public education about fraud. Concludes that more emphasis on public‐private partnerships will help fight economic crime.
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This paper reviews the issues surrounding jury trials in fraud cases in the context of the Home Office's consultation document in early 1998. It includes an account of the Serious…
Abstract
This paper reviews the issues surrounding jury trials in fraud cases in the context of the Home Office's consultation document in early 1998. It includes an account of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and concludes that a greater willingness to use regulatory institutions to deal with misconduct is essential to permitting the SFO, as the leading fraud prosecution agency, to discharge its responsibilities effectively.
The purpose of this study is to assess, since the 2006 Fraud Review, recommendations, strategies and consequential organisational and other changes at national, regional and local…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to assess, since the 2006 Fraud Review, recommendations, strategies and consequential organisational and other changes at national, regional and local levels relating to fraud, using the Northeast as a case study. It also notes that implementation may have been influenced by institutional changes and related emerging governmental policy agendas and institutional changes relating to organised crime, terrorism and cybercrime.
Design/methodology/approach
The research for the paper was undertaken by desk reviews of primary and secondary material. The paper also involved face-to-face interviews with personnel from the regional fraud unit and the three North-east police forces’ fraud units. The interviews were semi-structured and were conducted on grounds of anonymity for the personnel and the forces involved, with a focus on trends and issues. The personnel were invited to comment on a draft of the paper in terms of accuracy of the information they provided; no revisions or additions were proposed. Interpretation of that information is the sole responsibility of the author.
Findings
The paper finds that, despite the decade since the Fraud Review, issues of effectiveness or relevance of national fraud strategies, absence of incentives and identifiable benefits and continuous influence of competing agendas on police priorities continue to marginalise fraud as a mainstream police function and limit the level of resource committed to what also continues to be a rising area of criminality.
Research limitations/implications
The research looks at the recommendations, strategies and consequential organisational and other changes at national, regional and local levels through implementation by four policing units in the North-east. It also notes that implementation may have been influenced by institutional changes and related emerging governmental policy agendas and institutional changes relating to organised crime, terrorism and cybercrime. While the research is limited in that, it draws on the experience of three local and one regional fraud unit; its findings support further research about the implementation of strategies and agendas in practice on the ground.
Practical implications
The research validates many of the findings by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) and supports the need to review national strategies to ensure effective implementation at local level for what also continues to be a rising area of criminality.
Social implications
The research raises important issues concerning public concern over fraud where majority of frauds are of high volume, low value with low levels of recovery and usually targeted at individuals but where the policing responses are targeted elsewhere.
Originality/value
The research is the first study on the local implementation of national strategies on fraud and raises positive and less positive aspects of how far national strategies and intentions are addressed on the ground.
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In England and Wales the Crown Prosecutor is a lawyer who is independent from the investigation and is charged with assessing evidence and evaluating whether a prosecution should…
Abstract
In England and Wales the Crown Prosecutor is a lawyer who is independent from the investigation and is charged with assessing evidence and evaluating whether a prosecution should proceed or not. The CPS is intentionally authorised to override the decisions of the police to curb any potentially over‐zealous investigations and evidence gathering that might subsequently tarnish the standards of procedure in the courts when applying the criminal law. The increasingly burdensome rules of disclosure have made demands on the CPS which are akin to the overall requirement on the investigating magistrate of civil law jurisdictions to find the truth by examination of the prosecution and defence evidence. The recent moves to return a limited number of lawyers to police stations is a further indication that the future role of the CPS may include an active rather than solely passive role in evidence gathering. The Serious Fraud Office are directly involved in the investigation and prosecution of complex frauds. This office has statutory and judicial authority to conduct investigations which follow an inquisitorial rather than accusatorial model. The juge d'instruction in France has authority to direct and control police investigations and subsequently to compile a dossier of evidence for presentation before a trial court. This paper points out that there are close parallels emerging in pre‐trial procedures in England and Wales and in France and the criticisms of the role of the investigating magistrate, the ‘sick man’, may hold lessons to be learnt for investigators and prosecutors within this jurisdiction.
The purpose of this paper is to explore the element of trust that is common to and underpins both the successful legitimate business venture and the successful fraud.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the element of trust that is common to and underpins both the successful legitimate business venture and the successful fraud.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper questions whether the cumulative effect of financial crime in our society may ultimately be more serious than in terms of damaging personal and business relationships than the actual losses incurred.
Findings
Law enforcement agencies must not lose sight of the significant impact that financial crime is having on our everyday activities. There is a pressing need to ensure that within our communities trust remains a power for good within business relationships.
Practical implications
The paper was aimed at raising the awareness of the intangible impact of white collar crime on our society and the need to avoid becoming complacent about such offending at a time when the law enforcement focus in many countries tends to be on violent offending in our community.
Originality/value
The paper will be of interest to those working in the field of economic crime or researching the topic.
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