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Fraud hits new highs, surveys report
If fraud continues at the same rate in the second half of 2009 it will reach UK£1.26bn, the highest ever figure in the 21-year history of KPMG’s fraud barometer. Already, in the six months to June, over 160 cases of serious fraud –..
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
Driven, but on the right road?
Timon Molloy, Editor
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
OLAF awash with leads from Bulgaria and Romania
European Union (EU) anti-fraud office OLAF probed a flood of fraud allegations about Bulgaria and Romania in 2008, worsening these new EU member states’ reputation as graft centres. There were 142 tips of financial fraud and misdemeanours..
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
SFO issues overseas corruption guidance
New Serious Fraud Office (SFO) guidelines for companies that discover internal involvement in overseas corruption aim to encourage more self-reporting. Firms will be attracted by the prospect of civil settlement rather than criminal prosecution,..
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
Marta Andreasen MEP rebuffed by colleagues
Former European Commission chief accountant and whistleblower par excellence Marta Andreasen has been elected to the European Parliament as an MEP for the Euro-sceptic UK Independence Party. She has also won a position on the parliament’s..
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
Satyam suspects in lie detector interrogation
By Raghavendra Verma, New Delhi
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
Brussels cracks down on audit directive laggards
The European Commission is taking Italy to the European Court of Justice for failing to implement the 2006 European Union (EU) statutory audit directive – approved following the country’s notorious Parmalat scandal (see ‘Sour..
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
Counterfeit good seizures still rising in Europe
The volume of counterfeit goods seized by European Union (EU) customs teams has continued to rise, with the latest figures from the European Commission showing that the number of seizures in 2008 increased 13% from 2007 – up to 49,381 cases...
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
Privilege against self-incrimination, civil proceedings & the Fraud Act 2006
The privilege against self-incrimination in the context of fraud is set to be increasingly important in the current economic climate. Henry Garfield and Kira King of Baker & McKenzie LLP look at the issue in the context of section 13 of the Fraud Act 2006. They consider the conflict between the privilege against self-incrimination as a fundamental right and the value of such information at trial.
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
Correction – email addresses
In the article ‘Hotlines are heating up’ in the June/July 09 issue we mistakenly included full stops in the authors’ email address formats. They should have read Gabriel Romero - GabrielRomero@tnwinc.com and Angella Davis -..
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
M&A – hidden costs
In this environment, say Alex Rene and Jehan-Philippe Wood of Fulbright & Jaworski International, UK-based businesses have never been under greater pressure to combat fraud, bribery and corruption. They face these risks in many different contexts, but one often overlooked area is mergers and acquisitions. Corporate transactions give rise to particular risks, because they can expose otherwise honest companies to a significant risk of damage from previous corrupt activity. This article considers some of the obstacles that companies can face in attempting to deal with bribery and corruption risks during a merger or acquisition and a practical response.
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
Virtual worlds, real risks
Life online in the world of virtual games costs real money just as it does away from the computer. Where there is money, there is fraud with law and enforcement authorities left to play catch-up. Tony Lewis and Aymen Khoury of Field Fisher Waterhouse look at an expanding jurisdiction of risk and at one country’s moves to legislate in defence.
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
The unattractive proposition
Mabey & Johnson may have agreed to plead guilty to corruption offences after self-reporting to the Serious Fraud Office but companies have not exactly been falling over themselves to own up and make a fresh start. Bill Waite of The Risk Advisory Group finds sound reasons for their reticence.
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
A new approach for a new era
We are currently in the middle of one of the worst recessions since the 1930s, writes Jim Gee of Macintyre Hudson LLP. The International Monetary Fund estimates that financial institutions will have to write off a total of US$4.1 trillion of assets; UK unemployment has increased by 753,000 over the last twelve months, to reach 2.38 million; 150,000 bankruptcies are forecast for 2009; public expenditure reductions of between 10-15% are predicted and our economy has shrunk by 4.9% since the first quarter of 2008. This is affecting our work as counter fraud specialists. We need to understand the changing nature and extent of the threat that we face and to be clear about what we can do.
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009
Code words
An ethical culture in which all employees feel secure to report suspicions or knowledge of fraud is the goal of all principled organisations but how to make it a reality? Luis Ramos, CEO of The Network, Inc has some practical suggestions.
Online Published Date:
06 August 2009
Appeared in issue:
Aug/Sep 09 - 01 August 2009