Government abandons plans for corporate liability for failure to prevent economic crime

The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that the government no longer intends to introduce legislation which would make corporations criminally liable for "failing to prevent economic crime".

The proposed offence was announced by Attorney-General Jeremy Wright in September 2014 and featured in the Conservatives' election manifesto.  The legislation would have put a great onus on corporations to take steps to prevent crimes such as money laundering and fraud.

In an answer to a written question Justice Minister Andrew Selous said "Ministers have decided not to carry out further work at this stage as there have been no prosecutions under the model Bribery Act offence and there is little evidence of corporate economic wrongdoing going unpunished."

The Bribery Act 2010 made it an offence to prevent bribery.

A copy of the ministerial answer can be found here.