Recent developments in Scottish and English bribery enforcement

On 5 April 2016, The Scottish Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service ("COPFS") announced the latest resolution of a Bribery Act enforcement action against the Glasgow-based logistics company, Braid Logistics (UK) Limited. Braid agreed to pay £2.2 million pursuant to a Civil Recovery Order and accepted responsibility for contravention of sections 1 and 7 of the Bribery Act 2010 (section 7 being the so-called 'corporate offence' of 'failure to prevent' bribery).

This is the latest development in an exciting few months in anti-corruption enforcement. Earlier this year, in two eagerly anticipated judgments, the Court applied for the first time in a contested corporate case the Sentencing Council's 2014 Definitive Guideline: Fraud, Bribery and Money Laundering Offences (the"Guideline"), and sentenced a company following a successful prosecution under section 7 of the Bribery Act. These two cases, Smith & Ouzman Limited and Sweett Group Plc, represent the first steps in building a body of much-needed experience of the Court's approach to the Guideline, following the first DPA last year. We provide below an overview of the Braid, Smith & Ouzman and Sweett Group cases, and explain how the penalties imposed on the companies were determined.

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Written by Susannah - HSF