SFO SETS MID-YEAR DATE FOR DECISION OVER INDEPENDENT

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is expected to decide by end-June whether to press charges against failed local insurer Independent, following a lengthy inquiry into the collapse, local newspaper The Times reports. However, the SFO’s handling of the inquiry has been criticised for so far failing to question several senior figures connected with the collapse of Independent, more than nine months after it entered provisional liquidation. The investigation is though to have concentrated on the activities of former chief executive Michael Bright, who has been declared bankrupt in the wake of the failure. A spokesperson for the SFO confirmed at the weekend that a mid-year announcement could be expected.