Fraud (Criminal)

26.11.18

Revised Code for Crown Prosecutors introduced

The Code for Crown Prosecutors has been revised as of October 2018 (‘the Code’) and is now in its eighth edition. The outgoing Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders unveiled amendments to the Code which she said were vital to ensure ‘defendants and complainants have trust in the criminal justice system and the public has…

5.11.18

Aaron Banks, Leave.EU, the NCA and the Electoral Commission

Last week, the Electoral Commission referred Brexit campaigner Aaron Banks, his 2016 organisation Leave.EU, and his senior colleague Liz Bilney to the National Crime Agency (NCA). The purpose of the investigation is to discover whether electoral laws were broken regarding Leave.EU’s referendum funding during 2016, and also whether Mr Banks and Ms Bilney knowingly concealed…

16.09.18

Clarity on Legal Professional Privilege from the Court of Appeal

In The Director of The Serious Fraud Office v Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Limited [2018] EWCA Civ 2006 the Court of Appeal was asked to determine whether certain documents created during the course of an internal company investigation were subject to legal professional privilege. In April 2013, the Serious Fraud Office (‘SFO’) commenced a criminal…

11.09.18

Grenfell fraud conviction

A 26 year old male has been convicted at Isleworth Crown Court after being found guilty of falsely claiming that he had been living in Grenfell Tower at the time of the fire in order to benefit from multiple support services available to victims and their families. On 7 September 2018, Yonatan Eyob was sentenced…

3.09.18

Failure to properly advise can amount to professional misconduct says Bar Tribunal

Given the cuts to the resources of state prosecutors, the number of private prosecutions are understood to be on the rise. It is therefore increasingly important for practitioners to be mindful of advising clients on the proper test for bringing a private prosecution including any associated risks.  The Bar Tribunal and Adjudication Service’s recent suspension of…

New procedure for lodging appeals in Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)

As from 1 October 2018 appeals against conviction and/or sentence must be lodged directly with the Criminal Appeal Office and not the Crown Court. The Criminal Procedure Rules Committee has approved a change to Rule 39 CPR and will require a separate Form NG and Grounds for each substantive application. By omitting the need to…

28.07.18

The new test for dishonesty: the impact of Ivey v Genting Casinos

Last year’s Supreme Court judgment in Ivey v Genting Casinos [2017] UKSC 67, a civil claim, shocked many criminal law practitioners as it formulated a new test for determining the element of ‘dishonesty’ for use in both civil and criminal Proceedings. Prior to Ivey the case of R v Ghosh [1982] EWCA Crim 2 had been widely recognised by…

12.07.18

Unexplained Wealth Orders: A new power for law enforcement agencies

The Criminal Finances Act 2017, which came into force early this year, gives enforcement authorities such as the National Crime Agency (‘NCA’), Revenue and Customs (‘HMRC’), the Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’) and the Serious Fraud Office (‘SFO’) new powers which are designed to help law enforcement act on suspected corrupt assets. Section 1 of the Criminal…

21.03.18

Dredging up the past: prosecutors seeking to vary confiscation orders years later

A confiscation order can be made after a defendant is convicted of certain criminal offences.  It requires the defendant to pay back the ‘benefit’ that they have obtained from their criminal behaviour.  Such an order is effectively capped at the level of a defendant’s available assets. Under Section 22 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (‘POCA’)…

19.01.18

Frozen bank account and no explanation? Suspicious Activity Reports and the high street bank customer post April 2017

Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) have been with us for over 15 years, but to many outside the Regulated sector they are a somewhat unfamiliar concept. The number of SARs has increased steadily.  The latest available statistics (October 2015 to March 2017) show that over 630,000 SARS have been made in an 18-month period. The National Crime…