Proposal to Expand the UK Bribery Act

The proposed amendment to Section 7 of the Bribery Act would create the offence of a company failing to prevent acts of financial crime by its associated persons and would create a strict liability offence for commercial organisations if an associated person engaged in bribery for the organisation's benefit, subject to a defence that it had put in place adequate precautions to prevent such conduct. The proposal is supported by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) Director, David Green QC. Read his speech here.