Serious Fraud Office given extra funding to tackle financial crime

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The UK Serious Fraud Office has been given £9.3 million of extra funding to improve case management and evidence management as part of the government’s initiative to tackle financial crime.

The majority of the money (£8.3 million) will be used to reform the way the agency tracks the progress of its cases, the attorney general told the Financial Times. A new seizure team will also be established to help recover the assets of convicted people.

The UK prosecutor tasked with tackling complex fraud, bribery and corruption has long struggled with a lack of resources as he tries to appoint wealthy individuals willing to engage in lengthy court battles. Average SFO The case takes more than four years from investigation to final conclusion and involves 5 million documents.

The money will support the SFO’s annual budget next year, which currently stands at £88.9 million for 2025-26. The agency’s budget always consists of base funding plus an additional amount to handle major cases, which varies from year to year.

The SFO’s current caseload includes a bribery investigation into Glencore. blame six former employees this year and its investigation into the accounting practices of collapsed cafe chain Patisserie Valerie.

“This government is committed to tackling fraud and this additional funding will modernize the SFO’s services, improve disclosure practices and enhance its capabilities to seize assets and deliver significant returns to taxpayers.” Richard Hermerthe attorney general for England and Wales said in a statement.

The additional funding for the agency’s evidence software comes after the prosecutor faced criticism for its disclosure practices.

SFO revealed issues with annotation technology earlier this year This forced him to review past and current cases. Although the review is still ongoing, SFO director Nick Ephgrave told the FT in September that no issues had been uncovered to date.

Separately, the SFO has to pay potentially millions of pounds A lawsuit was filed against the Eurasian Natural Resources Agency for damages due to its criminal investigation against the Kazakh mining group. The agency has set aside more than £200 million to cover the case.

The UK government also said this week it was providing additional funding to the Crown Prosecution Service for England and Wales to help ease pressures on the criminal justice system. facing a record backlog of cases.

The Attorney-General said £49 million will be given to the CPS to support victims of crime, improve services and increase the number of staff working on rape and serious sexual offense cases.