Serious Fraud Office to offer deals to firms that own up

By EMILY HAWKINS

Updated: 21:50 BST, 20 April 2025

The Serious Fraud Office plans to offer deals to businesses that self-report suspicions of financial crime.

Britain’s top anti-graft agency will announce this week that firms can discuss deferring prosecutions if they are honest by coming forward with potential issues. The new rules will apply in all but exceptional scenarios.

‘The criminal penalties will be significantly bigger if you try to bury your skeletons,’ SFO boss Nick Ephgrave – a former Met Police assistant commissioner – will warn.

He will also tell businesses tempted to ‘ignore issues in the hope they go away’ that ‘this gamble has never been riskier’.

Own up: The Serious Fraud Office will announce that firms can discuss deferring prosecutions if they are honest by coming forward

Under a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), firms are able to avoid prosecution but still face big fines. There have been 12 deals since they were introduced in the UK in 2014, raising £1.7billion for public coffers, the Sunday Times reports.

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Serious Fraud Office to offer deals to firms that own up

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