Richard Alderman, Director of the Serious Fraud Office, has announced that the SFO is reallocating more resources to combat overseas corruption. He was speaking at an Anti-Corruption and Bribery conference in London today, where he told delegates that the SFO would be increasing the number of investigators it has on anti-corruption work from 65 to around 100 - an increase of over 50 percent. This work will be headed by Keith McCarthy, the SFO's new Head of Anti-Corruption, who has a track record in this area.
The Director emphasised the importance of corporates approaching the SFO as soon as they discover corruption or bribery. They should tell us at an early stage, he said, what they have uncovered and what range of measures they have put in place to sort matters such as training, restitution or monitoring. He also outlined the wide range of measures that the SFO will consider in respect of corporates or individuals who have been shown to have committed corruption or bribery. It is very much in a company's interests, he went on to say, to self-report rather than wait for the SFO to approach them.
Mr Alderman went on to describe the many sources of information - including government departments, foreign governments and agencies and the media - available to the SFO and how they used them.
In concluding Mr Alderman spoke of the public's very high expectations of how coporates should behave. The SFO, he said, has a vital role to play in ending corruption and the additional investigators the SFO was now making available for this work, shows their commitment to this.
Should any company wish to contact the SFO regarding corruption or bribery, they should register their concerns through the SFO website www.sfo.gov.uk and follow the instructions on the "Reporting a fraud?" which can be accessed on the home page.
A copy of Richard Alderman's speech will be placed on the Serious Fraud Office's website shortly - www.sfo.gov.uk.
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