header-logo header-logo

The identification doctrine under scrutiny

21 June 2023
Issue: 8030 / Categories: Legal News , Criminal , Company
printer mail-detail
The Home Office has announced plans to modernise the identification doctrine, which holds companies criminally liable for offences.

An addition to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, announced last week, will bring senior managers within scope of who can be considered the ‘directing mind and will’ of a business.

Currently, the identification doctrine is interpreted as applying to members of the board, such as chief executives. Complex management structures mean prosecutors struggle to prove key decision-makers are part of the company’s ‘directing mind’.

Andrew Penhale, chief crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said the reform ‘will further enhance the tools available to prosecutors’.

Alun Milford, partner at Kingsley Napley, said the proposal was ‘potentially very significant in fraud cases.

‘However, the devil is in the detail and whether the dramatic promises made by the government will result in any successful corporate prosecutions for economic crime will depend to a very large extent on how exactly a “senior manager” is defined in the new law.’ 

Issue: 8030 / Categories: Legal News , Criminal , Company
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gilson Gray—Linda Pope

Gilson Gray—Linda Pope

Partner joins family law team inLondon

Jackson Lees Group—five promotions

Jackson Lees Group—five promotions

Private client division announces five new partners

Taylor Wessing—Max Millington

Taylor Wessing—Max Millington

Banking and finance team welcomes partner in London

NEWS
The landmark Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd—along with Rukhadze v Recovery Partners—redefine fiduciary duties in commercial fraud. Writing in NLJ this week, Mary Young of Kingsley Napley analyses the implications of the rulings
Barristers Ben Keith of 5 St Andrew’s Hill and Rhys Davies of Temple Garden Chambers use the arrest of Simon Leviev—the so-called Tinder Swindler—to explore the realities of Interpol red notices, in this week's NLJ
Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys [2025] has upended assumptions about who may conduct litigation, warn Kevin Latham and Fraser Barnstaple of Kings Chambers in this week's NLJ. But is it as catastrophic as first feared?
Lord Sales has been appointed to become the Deputy President of the Supreme Court after Lord Hodge retires at the end of the year
Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are reportedly in the firing line in Chancellor Rachel Reeves upcoming Autumn budget
back-to-top-scroll