Mishcon's Culture vs Corruption Diary - February 2011
Welcome to the February edition of Mishcon's Culture vs Corruption Diary, the object of this diary is to provide businesses and their advisors with a snapshot of what has been happening in the world of corruption in the last month.
We make no judgement whatsoever as to the morality, legality or appropriateness of the conduct which forms the subject matter of this bulletin. We simply aim to bring these matters to the attention of those involved in the prevention, detection and investigation of fraud.
UNITED KINGDOM
Legislation
Former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith has called on the judiciary to allow the Serious Fraud Office to negotiate more "plea bargains" with companies that fall foul of the UK's new bribery legislation.
Richard Tyler
Daily Telegraph, 5 January 2010
Consultations
Ministers are considering plans to merge the Serious Fraud Office with a new FBI-style National Crime Agency to create a single Economic Crime Agency, intending to improve the "piecemeal" approach to policing white-collar crime.
James Boxell
Financial Times, 17 January 2010
WESTERN EUROPE
Financial Services
Gerhard Gribkowsky the former risk manager of BayernLB is under arrest on suspicion of receiving $50m in corrupt payments in connection with the sale of a stake in the Formula One motor racing organisation.
Tom Cary
Daily Telegraph, 6 January 2010
Engineering
Alstom has denied allegations by the Serious Fraud Office that it paid £81m in bribes to foreign officials between 2004 and 2010.
Graham Ruddick
Daily Telegraph, 11 January 2010
EASTERN EUROPE
Financial Services
Russian and British police are investigating four Russian government officials assigned to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development following an internal investigation into allegations of bribe taking.
Charles Clover and Neil Buckley
Financial Times, 19 January 2010
ASIA
Financial Services
The former governor of the Vietnamese central bank, Le Duc Thuy has been linked to an Australian police investigation for allegedly receiving bribes from Securency, a banknote printing company that is half-owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Peter Smith
Financial Times, 25 January 2010
Mishcon de Reya
Mishcon's Culture vs Corruption Diary is published by the Dispute Resolution Department of Mishcon de Reya. Widely recognised as the leader in the field of fraud investigations, the Department has extensive experience in conducting and/or project managing highly sensitive international investigations in respect of bribery and corruption allegations. The Department founded and runs both the Fraud Network, made up of international legal fraud specialists, and the Financial Risk Group, for risk and compliance officers.