UK fraud agency told to record contacts with defendants, suspects

The UK Serious Fraud Office should record contact with defendants, suspects and their representatives as necessary and have effective disclosure strategies for all its cases, the attorney general said on Thursday after an independent review.

The UK Serious Fraud Office should record contact with defendants, suspects and their representatives as necessary and have effective disclosure strategies for all its cases, the attorney general said on Thursday after an independent review. The SFO, which combines investigatory and prosecutorial powers, has been criticised over its handling of a number of high-profile cases, and the findings of the government-ordered review of its failings pile fresh pressure on its director, Lisa Osofsky.

Publishing the results of the review, carried out after a court overturned a conviction in its Unaoil bribery case last year, Attorney General Suella Braverman said she would closely monitor the agency's progress and update parliament in November and next February. The review highlighted five recurrent themes: record-keeping; compliance with casework assurance processes; resourcing; understanding about priorities; and distrust between the case team and senior management, Braverman said.

Braverman appointed David Calvert-Smith, a former High Court judge, to lead a forensic investigation into SFO failings after senior judges ruled that disclosure failures and "wholly inappropriate" contact between top SFO officers and an American fixer had rendered the trial unfair. The Court of Appeal has since quashed a second conviction in the case, which turned on how oil contracts were secured in post-occupation Iraq. Judges were hearing arguments on Thursday about whether to overturn a third conviction.