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Government's fraud response disappoints

18 January 2023
Issue: 8009 / Categories: Legal News , Fraud , Criminal
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The government has stalled on proposals to introduce a ‘failure to prevent’ offence on fraud—made as part of the Law Commission’s recommendations for tackling economic crime last June and reiterated by the Justice Select Committee in October.

Its response, published last week, to the Committee report, ‘Fraud and the justice system’, stated the government was ‘working… to consider… and determine a case’ for a failure to prevent offence.

Lloyd Firth, counsel in WilmerHale’s UK white collar defence and investigations practice, said: ‘Anyone hoping the government might finally take concrete action… will be disappointed.

‘No timeframe is given for the government to conclude its consideration of the Law Commission’s paper. The long wait for consensus and action on the reform of corporate criminal liability in the UK continues.’

The government also rejected the committee’s recommendation to pilot specialist economic crime courts on the basis there is a current shortage of judges. Read its full response here.

Issue: 8009 / Categories: Legal News , Fraud , Criminal
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