Publication
Legal strategies to tackle fraud in early-stage investments in Asia
In the wake of the recent eFishery scandal early-stage investors are recalibrating their approach to due diligence and risk tolerance.
Global | Publication | April 2025
The SFO’s Business Plan for 2025-2026 signals its intention to take centre stage in global financial crime enforcement, setting out its vision to be a “proactive, authoritative player in the global and domestic justice system”. The Business Plan draws out some of the key points raised in the SFO’s five-year strategy document published by the SFO in April 2024 (the Strategy Document), which we wrote about here. In particular, the SFO emphasises:
The SFO considers the coming into force of the new failure to prevent fraud offence in September 2025 to be a “landmark moment”. In a recent speech Nick Ephgrave (SFO Director) emphasised that the SFO is looking to prosecute the offence:
“Come September, if they haven’t sorted themselves out, we're coming after them. That’s the message I’ll be delivering…I’m very, very keen to prosecute someone for that offence. We can’t sit with the statute books gathering dust, someone needs to feel the bite.”
We expect the new offence to have a similar impact to the UK Bribery Act – and to lead to a significant number of new investigations and ultimately DPAs and prosecutions.
With five months to go until the new offence comes in, UK and non-UK companies with UK links should be conducting risk assessments and enhancing anti-fraud procedures. For more on the new offence, please see our knowledge hub here. We are helping various companies and financial institutions prepare for the offence; if you would like to discuss how we can help, please get in touch.
The Business Plan emphasises the importance of the SFO developing and maintaining international partnerships with overseas authorities. An example of this is the SFO’s recent alliance with Swiss and French authorities to tackle international bribery and corruption (announced here).
We can expect to see more joint investigations and (given the current “pause” from US authorities in relation to the FCPA) we expect that the UK and EU will take primacy in global financial crime investigations.
The Business Plan noted that the SFO will publish updated corporate cooperation guidance (expected in April 2025). We can expect that the updated guidance will set out the SFO’s cooperation expectations for companies in more detail, building on some of the examples of cooperation cited in DPAs.
As trailed in the Strategy Document, the SFO is eager to progress proposed reforms to whistleblower incentivisation, including financial incentives. Mr Ephgrave has consistently emphasised that he regards such reform as necessary, noting the perceived benefits of whistleblower rewards in jurisdictions such as the US where a comparatively higher number of investigations are triggered by whistleblowers.
In the Business Plan, the SFO proposes to configure and deliver a modern case management system to streamline its casework. Mr Ephgrave stated that the SFO’s approach to casework and reviews has already “created the capacity to open eight new investigations” and has led to the SFO charging the first case opened under Mr Ephgrave’s tenure within 15 months of launch. The SFO are displaying intent to streamline its operations and expedite the overall investigation process.
The Business Plan summarises a number of initiatives to improve the SFO’s use of technology, including the application of intelligence analysis tools, and Technology Assisted Review (TAR). The SFO had already reported successes earlier this year with the pilot of TAR, which it says has reviewed documents for disclosure up to 40% faster than traditional methods.
With thanks to Mahika Gogi for her assistance in preparing this post
Publication
In the wake of the recent eFishery scandal early-stage investors are recalibrating their approach to due diligence and risk tolerance.
Publication
As we stand on the cusp of transformative change within the energy sector, anticipation builds around the UK government’s impending decision on the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA). This briefing provides a recap of the proposals made to date and looks at the potential future impact of the REMA proposals on market players.
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Following the launch of the new Electricity Law on 30 November 2024, which took effect on 1 February 2025 (Electricity Law 2024), Decision No. 768/QD-TTg (Decision 768) issued on 15 April 2025 by the Prime Minister of Vietnam approved the revised National Power Development Plan VIII (PDP 8) for the period 2021–2030, with a vision to 2050. This decision replaces the previous Decision No. 500/QD-TTg, dated 15 May 2023.
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