A Taxing Request: SFO Scrutinise Company Records In Bid To Expose Bribery

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is to sift through tax records of companies under investigation for bribery as part of a broader plan to target criminals. The proposals mean that companies will have to hand over the relevant sections of their tax calculations so that the SFO can examine whether they have claimed tax deductions on bribes. If this is the case then HM Revenue & Customs may be informed of the sham accounts produced, resulting in the company being inspected by both the SFO and the tax office.

The move follows the huge revamp of UK anti-bribery laws (implemented in July) whereby the SFO may prosecute for offences including bribing another person, being bribed and bribing a foreign public official. The Crown Prosecution Service has recently made its first prosecution under the Bribery Act for a London court clerk allegedly accepting bribes see previous update: The Bribery Act: The Prosecutions Begin!

The Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Richard Alderman, believes that tax records could be the key to uncovering bribes and ensuring compliance with the bribery legislation. Alderman was the Director of Special Compliance at HMRC before moving on to his present position at the SFO and further changes resulting from his tax experience are anticipated. Bribes are non-deductible, therefore the SFO is demanding company records to see if there is anything which reveals or suggests that a figure was disallowed in the tax computation...