US ‘tuna bond’ bribery charges beg questions about UK response

The recent arrests of three ex-Credit Suissebankers charged with United States bribery offences represent another instanceof the three lines of defence model failing to operate as it should. Whataction will the relevant UK criminal and regulatory authoritiestake? asks Denis O’Connor.

Denis O’Connorisa fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Walesand the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment. He was a member ofthe British Bankers’ Association Money Laundering Committee from 2003-10 and amember of the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group’s board and editorial panelbetween 2010 and 2016. He has been a frequent speaker at industry conferenceson financial crime issues, both in the United Kingdom and abroad.

The New Year saw three ex-Credit Suissebankers arrested in London at the request of US authorities on bribery andfraud charges connected to the $2 billion Mozambique ‘tuna bonds’ scandal. [1]In other examples of international cooperation, a former finance minister ofMozambique was arrested in South Africa and an executive of an Abu Dhabicompany, Privinvest, was detained in New York, both in relation to the scandal.