Under its energetic new director Nick Ephgrave, the Serious Fraud Office aims to be the “preeminent, specialist, innovative and collaborative agency that leads the fight against serious and complex fraud, bribery and corruption”.
On April 18 2024, Ephgrave set out his strategy for the next five years for the SFO to achieve that ambition.
The strategy highlights that the threat posed by fraud, bribery and corruption has never been greater. These crimes affect the health and wellbeing of the public, erode confidence in the financial systems and damage the reputation of the UK.
With its multi-disciplinary team of investigators, forensic accountants and lawyers, the SFO is uniquely placed to tackle this threat, but it must continue to adapt, develop, and attract and retain the best talent.
To do this the SFO has to focus not just on what it does, but how it does it, and its values (professional, collaborative and innovative) will underpin everything it does.
The SFO wants to be seen as confident, strong, dynamic and pragmatic, and to achieve that it must progress cases faster, taking bold decisions and being seen as the partner of choice both in the UK and overseas.
Criminals are quick to embrace and exploit new technology, for example using artificial intelligence to generate audio or visuals to perpetrate fraud. The SFO cannot be left behind, it must harness this technology to stay ahead.
It will need to trial new and innovative tools to strengthen its ability detect fraud, bribery and corruption.
The SFO recognises that the ultimate protection to the public is preventing them from becoming victims in the first place, and the strategy sets out three ways the SFO intends to do that.
The first is to cut serious fraud, bribery and corruption off at source by testing new prevention methods through a pilot programme – although frustratingly the strategy doesn’t provide any more details on the pilot.
Second is building accurate and detailed intelligence by making best use of its covert powers, making it easier for corporates to self-report and exploring options to incentivise whistleblowers.
The final strand is providing a strong deterrent through successful prosecutions and the SFO is clear that it has to be more open to alternatives to formal prosecutions, such as building on its successful use of deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs).
The SFO has strong international co-operation and information-sharing agreements in place (especially with the US Department of Justice) and it is to be expected that there will also be a greater focus on multi-jurisdictional investigations that will directly impact UK companies and individuals.
New director, new direction?
Ephgrave’s arrival at the SFO in September 2023 signalled a significant change in approach for the agency.
The previous directors had all been lawyers, whereas Ephgrave was a serving police officer for more than 30 years, rising to the rank of assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service.
