Rahman Ravelli considers the authorities’ ability to prosecute corporate offending

Claims that there is a lack of senior executive accountability for economic crime were assessed by Rahman Ravelli.

In this article, which was published by The European Financial Review, Rahman Ravelli detail a report by Spotlight on Corruption that argue that agencies are struggling to bring prosecutions against senior executives in large firms, with directors from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) more likely to be convicted.

Rahman Ravelli explain that the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, which came into effect last year, means that companies now face greater scrutiny, as well as unlimited fines regarding conduct that may previously have gone unpunished or been treated as a civil law matter. They cite the Act’s new offence of failure to prevent fraud, which now applies to larger companies and their subsidiaries, and its expansion of the reach of the identification doctrine as ways that may see more companies held to account for wrongdoing.

Rahman Ravelli also refers to the Serious Fraud Office which, they say, “appears to be on a mission to cover as much ground as possible’’ and is keen to use the Act. Although Rahman Ravelli outline concerns that the Act may only be fully effective if more resources are made available to law enforcement.

The full article can be read here.

Featured at: The European Financial Review