Skip to main content

Category: Uncategorized

A Checklist for preparing Trial Witness Statements

Written by admin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

If you (as an individual or organisation) are involved in a case in the Business & Property Courts (not subject to the Shorter Trials Scheme), then Practice Direction 57AC is likely to apply.  These rules set out the key principles of what is required when preparing your witness statements (if the witness statement is signed on or after 6 April 2021).

PD57AC also refers to the ‘Statement of Best Practice’ and any relevant ‘Court Guide’ which must also be observed.

The Secret Ingredient – Newsletter

Written by admin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The Secret Ingredient is our dedicated food and drink quarterly newsletter. Each publication supports in-house counsel and those from a science background assessing food safety to keep up to date with current and emerging fraud-related risks. Catch up on previous issues below and subscribe here to receive quarterly updates direct to your inbox.

Fraud and the Justice System – House of Commons Justice Committee, Fourth Report of Session 2022-23

Written by admin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

On 18 October 2022, the House of Commons Justice Committee published its Fourth Report of Session 2022-2023.  The report considers the continued upward trend of the fraud epidemic and how Government and private sectors might look to create a unified approach to tackling fraud, and to do so in such a way as will give the issue more publicly visible political and Governmental ownership and accountability.

BTI v Sequana: Can directors take comfort from the recent Supreme Court judgment?

Written by admin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

On 5 October 2022, the Supreme Court handed down its long-awaited judgment on the scope of directors’ duties in circumstances where a company is in financial difficulty, often referred to as the “twilight zone” i.e. the company is not yet insolvent but the company’s financial position is precarious. The hope was that the Supreme Court would provide certainty for those directors faced with difficult decisions in such circumstances, however, it is arguable whether the judgment has gone far enough to provide precise guidance.

Further legislation to tackle economic crime in the UK

Written by admin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

In March 2022, in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the UK government rushed through the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 (“ECA”). Given its speedy delivery, the ECA was focused on certain specific issues aimed at the laundering of dirty Russian money in the UK (as discussed in our previous article). However, the government is still under pressure to deliver further legislation to tackle wider issues concerning economic crime in the UK. To that end, the government has recently announced a further Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill which it states will deliver “…a suite of wider-ranging reforms to tackle economic crime and improve transparency over corporate entities.”

What are the issues with tackling fraud?

Written by admin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

In this Insights In Focus episode, Arun was invited to take a look at the upward trend in instances of fraud: what factors make it easier for fraudsters, and what can the profession do about it?

Bounce Back Loan fraud – What sits under the ‘misuse’ umbrella?

Written by admin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

A Guest Contributor: David Tattersall, Head of Client Relations, Handpicked Accountants (part of Begbies Traynor Group)

At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the British government introduced a lifeline to businesses in the form of the Bounce Back Loan scheme.
While this route provided easy and immediate cash access to Covid-19 stricken businesses, the conditions under which these loans were granted were stringent, the key rule being that businesses must use a Bounce Back Loan to provide an economic benefit.
It is expected that of the £47 billion worth of Bounce Back Loans provided, £4.9 billion is likely to be lost to fraud.
What’s classed as Bounce Back Loan misuse and fraud?

Fraud Advisory Panel publish fraud report

Written by admin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The Fraud Advisory Panel (the “FAP”) has recently published a comprehensive assessment of fraud in the COVID-19 pandemic entitled: “Running on empty – how the pandemic revealed a wasted decade” (the “Report”). The Report encompasses all forms of fraud in a variety of sectors with a specific focus on those frauds which flourished during the “perfect storm” of the pandemic. The statistics are startling and the FAP gives a stark warning that unless lessons are learned, the UK will again be caught with its “…institutional defences down.”

Fraudscape Half-yearly update july 2022 by Tenet law

Fraudscape Half-yearly update

Written by admin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Every year the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (“CIFAS”) publish their half year figures. For 2022 the report has just been released using figures from the CIFAS National Fraud Database and the Enhanced Internal fraud Database along with intelligence provided by CIFAS members. The report analyses how levels of fraudulent conduct have changed over the first half of 2022 compared to 2021.