SFO's sector-based compliance drive will focus on construction industry first, says Green

SFO Director David Green set out the agency's new approach as part of a speech at the Pinsent Masons and Legal Week Regulatory Reform and Enforcement Conference. He said that the use of "sectoral sweeps" would enable the SFO's intelligence-gathering capabilities to be "far more effective".

Anti-corruption expert Barry Vitou of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that the singling out of the construction sector was a "pointed and clear warning to the industry". It follows the publication of a survey of construction professionals in which 35% of respondents had been offered a bribe or incentive on at least one occasion and 49% believed that corruption was still "common" within the industry.

"The warning of a focus on the construction sector and public works contracts is in line with the recently-published Serious Organised Crime strategy paper which announced that focus would be on steps to reduce fraud on Government," said Vitou, writing on his website thebriberyact.com. "This makes sense in these cash-strapped times."

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) published the results of its second survey about crime and corruption in the construction sector earlier this month. Its findings, based on a survey of over 700 construction professionals, found that "little progress" had been made in the sector since its last such research in 2006, despite the introduction of the Bribery Act in the meantime.

"What we have found is that cultural practices and the consequences of the recession have places a greater strain on companies to sometimes engage in adverse practices as a survival mechanism," said Michael Brown, CIOB deputy chief executive. "If the UK is going to live up to its rhetoric of being tough on corruption, both the Government and industry must do more to show proof of progress."

More than half of the survey's respondents thought that the Government was not doing enough to prevent and tackle corruption, while 50% felt the same about the UK construction industry. Respondents highlighted the lack of prosecutions brought in respect of offences under the Bribery Act to date as a particular area of concern.

The Bribery Act came into force in July 2011 and, broadly speaking, states that companies with a presence in the UK can face prosecution for bribery or failing to prevent bribery regardless of where the alleged activity has taken place. A company can also be responsible for bribery carried out by its employees or third-party agents without its knowledge or consent, unless the company can show that they have 'adequate procedures' designed to prevent bribery in place.