David Corker writes for Law 360 on the Serious Fraud Office

Partner David Corker has written an article for Law 360 on the Serious Fraud Office arguing it has lost its bite as the U.K.’s specialist prosecuting authority for serious or complex fraud, bribery and corruption.

David writes: “In a nutshell, the SFO has lost its mojo as a prosecutor. Its retreat is manifested in several ways. First and simply, what Roskill hoped has not been achieved or if it ever was achieved, has been forfeited.

The SFO is not a successful prosecutor. The vices that the Roskill model was supposed to alleviate, namely protracted investigations and low conviction rates, continue to abound. As to the former, the SFO is notoriously slow; the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation investigation, for example, is now in its eighth year with no end in sight.

As to low conviction rates, 2021 was another disappointing year. The Serco prosecution, the culmination of a meandering six-year investigation, was of two individuals. That case collapsed abruptly because of a rudimentary failure to discharge the prosecutor’s disclosure obligation.”

Read the full article here.