Clifford Chance

Large corporate organisations may now be criminally liable for failing to prevent fraud committed by employees, agents, subsidiaries and other "associates".

From today, UK prosecutors are able to take criminal enforcement action against large corporate organisations which do not have in place "reasonable prevention procedures" in relation to fraud.

We have been tracking the development of this new offence since its inception. We are assisting many clients in the UK and other jurisdictions with identifying its impact and adjusting their compliance arrangements.

For full details of the new offence and analysis of how it applies to corporate organisations in the UK and further afield, see our detailed briefing here.

For a summary of key considerations when designing and implementing "reasonable prevention procedures", see our detailed briefing here.

For practical examples of the types of situations in which the offence may be engaged see our detailed briefing here.