Helping the police with their enquiries

Later this month the Home Office in London will announce a scheme under which regulated private investigation agencies will support police in combating corporate fraud. The government will set up a registry of approved investigators which is likely to include the major accountancy firms and independents such as Kroll O’Gara and Control Risks. It is understood that the private investigators will have regular meetings with police but will also operate with considerable freedom in the early part of an inquiry. This latest example of public-private partnership comes after members of the Confederation of British Industry expressed frustration at the slow pace of police company fraud inquiries. Senior police, who welcomed the initiative, admit that stretched resources mean that their forces are not always able to cope effectively with demand in this area. A spokesman for the Serious Fraud Office said that hopefully the proposal would bolster the police enterprise and might permit fraud squads to allocate more officers to SFO investigations. Currently most cases come to the attention of the SFO via the police and government departments. Regional fraud squads normally appoint one or more officers to liaise with the SFO’s investigation and prosecution teams. The SFO has made no secret of its concern over shifting police priorities that have witnessed continuing pressure on fraud divisions and has expressed fears that further diminution could see some cases not being investigated at all. The spokesman also noted that the move to accreditation should improve the quality of private investigations which demands highly specialised personnel with accounting, legal and computer knowledge.