SFO will have to repair its authority after Olympus
Outlook
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The successful prosecution of Tom Hayes over the Libor-fixing scandal gave the Serious Fraud Office a spring in its step.
Here was a difficult and complex case, that many doubted the SFO would successfully see through. And yet it won, giving tough-talking boss David Green a weapon with which to fight a legion of critics.
Now they’re back in the ascendancy. The accounting scandal at camera maker Olympus, unearthed by its British-born former boss Michael Woodford, sparked enforcement actions in Japan, the US and the UK. Care to guess in which of those three the authorities fell flat on their faces?
That’s right. It was the UK, where no evidence was ultimately offered, bringing proceedings against Olympus to a close after months of legal argument. The SFO is now facing questions once again.
Now Mr Green is in need of another big win, whether from the SFO’s investigations into the foreign exchange trading scandal or Tesco’s accounting. Accepting plea bargains was a sensible step on his part, that could lead to easier, and cheaper, victories. But miscreants aren’t going to engage with the SFO if they aren’t genuinely nervous about their prospects if they decide to fight.
The failure over Olympus is a serious setback in that regard.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments