The Serious Fraud Office was still not equipped to handle the most serious cases of corruption when it was last inspected last year, an official report has found.
As the SFO begins investigations into the Tesco accounting scandal and banks’ rigging of foreign exchange markets, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate said it found the agency had improved since 2012, but many of its problems were too entrenched to have been solved.
HMCPSI was following up on its report from two years ago, which criticised the SFO’s intelligence gathering as confused and its processes as weak. Inspectors visited the organisation a year ago to compile the latest report and have spent the time since then checking their findings.
The SFO had made substantial progress in selecting cases, keeping records and being clear about how it decides on the civil recovery of property linked to crime, the report said.
But chief inspector Michael Fuller said it had only made limited progress on:
• Making sure its intelligence function could capture and analyse information effectively
• Ensuring staff on individual cases are qualified and committed enough to carry out investigations
• Training staff in investigation techniques and equipping investigations adequately early on
• Updating disclosure guidance and training casework staff The SFO’s director, David Green, said last month that the agency faced the most demanding caseload it had ever shouldered and asked the government for an extra £26.5m.
He responded to Fuller’s report by saying the organisation had dealt with most of its problems since the inspection.
The SFO’s reputation was battered under its previous director, Richard Alderman, after it was forced to drop its investigation into the property tycoons Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz.
A judge criticised the organisation’s “sheer incompetence” in failing to keep proper records of information used to obtain warrants to search Vincent Tchenguiz’s home.
Green, who took over as director in 2012, apologised to the Tchenguiz brothers and the SFO paid them £7.5m in compensation and costs.
It recently added Tesco’s £263m profit overstatement and the manipulation of foreign exchange markets to a caseload that includes investigations into Barclays, Rolls-Royce and Libor rigging. It is also considering investigating allegations about the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Fuller said: “I think there is no room for complacency. Since David Green has taken over, he has been very conscientious and has taken the findings and recommendations of our original report very seriously.
“A large amount of effort has gone into addressing the recommendations we made and, given this is a busy organisational operation, they have made good progress so far. But the report lists areas where they still need to improve and could be more effective.”
Fuller said the inspectors were impressed by the abilities of some SFO staff, but that the agency might need to pay more to attract and retain the best investigators. Green said Fuller’s report was a snapshot of the SFO a year ago.
“The narrative of the follow-up report makes clear how much had already been achieved by staff and management across the SFO, to overhaul our structures and processes,” he said.
“The SFO is in a very different and better place than it was in 2012. I am confident that we have now substantially or fully achieved implementation of all of HMCPSI’s recommendations, although it will of course be for future independent inspections to assess that.”
theguardian.com
As the SFO begins investigations into the Tesco accounting scandal and banks’ rigging of foreign exchange markets, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate said it found the agency had improved since 2012, but many of its problems were too entrenched to have been solved.
HMCPSI was following up on its report from two years ago, which criticised the SFO’s intelligence gathering as confused and its processes as weak. Inspectors visited the organisation a year ago to compile the latest report and have spent the time since then checking their findings.
The SFO had made substantial progress in selecting cases, keeping records and being clear about how it decides on the civil recovery of property linked to crime, the report said.
But chief inspector Michael Fuller said it had only made limited progress on:
• Making sure its intelligence function could capture and analyse information effectively
• Ensuring staff on individual cases are qualified and committed enough to carry out investigations
• Training staff in investigation techniques and equipping investigations adequately early on
• Updating disclosure guidance and training casework staff The SFO’s director, David Green, said last month that the agency faced the most demanding caseload it had ever shouldered and asked the government for an extra £26.5m.
He responded to Fuller’s report by saying the organisation had dealt with most of its problems since the inspection.
The SFO’s reputation was battered under its previous director, Richard Alderman, after it was forced to drop its investigation into the property tycoons Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz.
A judge criticised the organisation’s “sheer incompetence” in failing to keep proper records of information used to obtain warrants to search Vincent Tchenguiz’s home.
Green, who took over as director in 2012, apologised to the Tchenguiz brothers and the SFO paid them £7.5m in compensation and costs.
It recently added Tesco’s £263m profit overstatement and the manipulation of foreign exchange markets to a caseload that includes investigations into Barclays, Rolls-Royce and Libor rigging. It is also considering investigating allegations about the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Fuller said: “I think there is no room for complacency. Since David Green has taken over, he has been very conscientious and has taken the findings and recommendations of our original report very seriously.
“A large amount of effort has gone into addressing the recommendations we made and, given this is a busy organisational operation, they have made good progress so far. But the report lists areas where they still need to improve and could be more effective.”
Fuller said the inspectors were impressed by the abilities of some SFO staff, but that the agency might need to pay more to attract and retain the best investigators. Green said Fuller’s report was a snapshot of the SFO a year ago.
“The narrative of the follow-up report makes clear how much had already been achieved by staff and management across the SFO, to overhaul our structures and processes,” he said.
“The SFO is in a very different and better place than it was in 2012. I am confident that we have now substantially or fully achieved implementation of all of HMCPSI’s recommendations, although it will of course be for future independent inspections to assess that.”
theguardian.com
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