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29 Jan 2025

The Role of SFO Fraud Solicitors in High-Value Investigations

If your business is suspected of serious criminal misconduct, then it can derail your business plans completely. This will be an immediate distraction for both your clients and potential investors. It could reduce demand levels and even result in your company struggling to remain open on the market. 

Issues could arise here due to the discovery of irregular payments in your business or perhaps a whistleblower coming forward such as a former employee. Regardless of the situation it’s important to understand how to deal and why you need the right, experienced legal representatives on your side to handle the SFO. 

What Is the SFO?

If you discover an issue with a serious crime in your business, then your instinct may be to manage an internal investigation, essentially keeping everything in house and mitigating the damage. This is understandable as you will undoubtedly want to protect the interests of your company. However, if you are found to be handling an internal investigation incorrectly then it could end up in the hands of the serious fraud office (SFO). 

This is one of the first reasons why it is important to hire skilled lawyers. The right lawyers will understand how to conduct an internal investigation correctly so there is absolutely no chance that the SFO queries whether you have attempted to conceal information or block a full investigation. Remember, this can either be an intentional cover up or issues with human error. If you are viewing historic events, then it’s entirely possible that you are not remembering the situation accurately. It is important to note that in a most recent case in the Supreme Court, it was found that an individual’s subjective view of their actions were no longer legally relevant. Instead, the jury was only asked to determine whether an accused individual’s actions were dishonest. 

Whether To Report 

Another question to consider when dealing with crimine in your organization is whether or not you should report to the SFO. There is certainly an argument for self reporting an issue in your business. While, aside from in cases of money laundering, there is no legal requirement to do so, taking this action will show immediate co-operation with regulators. 

Skilled legal support can help you determine whether it is necessary or the right decision to self report to the SFO. This decision will shape further proceedings and investigations into your organization so it is vital that you do make the right choice. 

Lawyers can also provide critical advice before proceedings occur which may ultimately halt the proceeding altogether. Since our team of lawyers have years of experience dealing with investigations involving the SFO, they can immediately recognize when it will be necessary to self-report and when you can continue to handle it as an internal investigation. 

Understanding Your Rights

If an investigation does end up in the hands of the SFO, then it is absolutely vital that you and any member of your business understands your rights. While the SFO will ultimately be working to ensure that justice is done, they could still use underhanded tactics and put you in difficult situations. You do have a legal obligation to cooperate fully with an investigation and the SFO has a range of tools available. However, perhaps the most common is the ability to search a property and compel any individual within an organization to answer any questions they may have or produce any documents. 

Our lawyers will advise you that they may only use this power if they find reasonable grounds to suspect that a serious offence has been committed in your business which involves a case of complex or serious fraud or corruption. 

The SFO must also provide written notice before they complete an action like this. Once you receive the notice, you have a legal obligation to produce any material that has been requested. 

Whether an employee is allowed to have legal representation during an interview investigating fraud is determined by the SFO.

Negotiation 

In some cases, it is vital that you mount a robust defence when dealing with an SFO investigation. However, it can also be beneficial to understand how to negotiate. Several large companies including Rolls-Royce successfully avoided prosecution with careful and effective negotiation through their legal team. Negotiation tactics are difficult to manage without the support of a skilled legal team at your side. Our expert lawyers are ready to assist you at every step and will help you determine whether you should admit to wrongdoing in an SFO investigation or avoid admitting wrongdoing and proceed with the firmest line of defence possible. 

Navigating The Process

As you may have surmised, an SFO investigation is often a lengthy process with numerous that organizations will need to pass through before they ultimately discover whether they will be prosecuted. With the right legal team on your side, it is far easier to manage this process and ensure that you don’t run into any pitfalls. For instance, if the SFO determines that you may not have a lawyer present at your section 2 interview, your lawyer will then need to argue why they should be allowed to attend. They may even need to agree to certain restrictions being placed on their role. 

The SFO has an incredible amount of resources however, this does not mean that they can’t be challenged.

The Right Expertise 

To put forward the best defence against the SFO, you need to make sure that you have a legal team with the right level of expertise. This can result in an investigation coming to an end without any charges being brought forward. However, it is essential that your lawyer understands your rights, the tactics of the SFO, their limitations, and the best strategies for defending your organization in the wake of an investigation. 

If you are interested in learning more about our role as SFO fraud solicitors and how we can help your organization if you are facing an investigation, please do not hesitate to contact our team today. We will be happy to assist you further.