Companies that self-report fraud can avoid prosecution and negotiate under the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) system, according to the head of the UK’s leading anti-fraud agency.

Nick Ephgrave told a conference in London this week that the Serious Fraud Office would introduce new guidance that would allow companies to use a “secure reporting portal” to disclose “suspected wrongdoing”.

Ephgrave said: “We are determined to lead the fight against serious and complex fraud, bribery and corruption, at home and side-by-side with international partners.

“Our new guidance sets out how corporates can report suspected criminality to us and what we expect from cooperating corporates.”

He added: “If you have knowledge of wrongdoing, the gamble of keeping this to yourself has never been riskier.”

Recent DPAs include the €3.6bn agreement that the SFO and other agencies struck with aeroplane manufacturer Airbus in 2020, for bribery and corruption across Asia and Africa.

In another deal, G4S agreed a DPA involving a penalty of £38.5m for fraudulent financial reporting to the Ministry of Justice in relation to contracts for electronic monitoring services.

US trigger

Tremors went through international fraud agencies in February when US president Donald Trump issued an executive order suspending the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which had been used to pursue bribery cases.

The White House said the law had been “systematically, and to a steadily increasing degree, stretched beyond proper bounds and abused in a manner that harms the interests of the United States”. The executive order added that the law “impedes” US foreign policy objectives.

The decision caused a case against two former executives of Cognizant Technology to be dropped in April.

Legal observers have expressed concern about leadership against international bribery and corruption following the US decision, with some looking elsewhere, including to the UK, for guidance.

The Serious Fraud Office’s statement suggests that it is keen to maintain anti-bribery and corruption efforts through its DPA process.

Anti-corruption taskforce

Self-reporting for DPAs is not the only measure taken by the SFO. The agency has also recently cooperated with France and Switzerland to launch a new anti-corruption taskforce last month, to share best practice, swap intelligence and work together on cases.

The latest DPA announcement also includes new guidelines clarifying what it means to provide “genuine cooperation”, a key condition for DPAs.

Cooperation will include preservation of digital and hard copy documents; presenting facts on suspected wrongdoing; and “early engagement” with the SFO.

The SFO also expressed its disapproval of “forum shopping”—companies seeking out the most lenient jurisdiction in which to come clear about its problems.