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Milestone Reached in UK Bribery and Corruption Enforcement

By Andr' Bywater and Jonathan Armstrong
January 31, 2016

An application brought by the UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for a so-called Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) was approved in court in London on Nov. 30, 2015, marking a historic milestone for UK bribery and corruption enforcement as this was the first time that a DPA has been adopted.

The UK's Bribery Act 2010 (the Act) has been vaunted in certain quarters as the toughest anti-corruption legislation in the world, and although successful prosecutions have been brought under it some have criticized enforcement as being too slow-paced. Some of this criticism is not well-founded ' the SFO has certainly been active in pursuing a number of major investigations. With this latest development, however, a particular turning point may have finally been reached. The Act has extra-territorial effect. Therefore, U.S. corporate counsel need to be aware of its various ramifications including the application of this new corruption prosecutor's tool.

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