The Serious Fraud Office
The Serious Fraud Office, also known as the SFO, has jurisdiction in England, Wales and Northern Ireland but not in Scotland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands. The SFO investigates and prosecutes crimes involving serious fraud and has authority under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to recover assets obtained illegally. The SFO only deals with cases involving serious crime usually involving conspiracy and large sums of money frequently with an international dimension.
At this stage I would like to point out that I am in way involved in the law industry; I actually sell bargain holiday deals, composite doors and I offer a how to stop stuttering course on a part-time basis.
Any lawyer that represents an accused person in these matters should be a member of the Legal Services Commission Specialist Fraud Panel and have met the strict qualification criteria which enable them to represent those charged with offences being prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office and more importantly to obtain legal aid to mount a publicly funded defence. Crown Court legal aid is means tested and the judge must find it in the best interest of justice in order to authorise publicly funded legal aid.
The Serious Fraud Office only prosecutes very serious cases that involve complex investigations where :-
• monetary value of the crime exceeds £1 million
• the case is of widespread public concern
• there is an international dimension to the case
• highly specialized knowledge is involved in the offence
• the special powers of the SFO are necessary in order to prosecute
Although the Serious Fraud Office have massive resources at their disposal over a third of all prosecutions fail. Those who are convicted in trials prosecuted by the SFO have more than just prison sentences to contend with. The Serious Fraud Office now attempts to recover the assets and monies of the villians by using the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. There are now specialist teams from within the Serious Fraud Office who will look to take back, if you like, assets and monies of convicted criminals as what they refer to "proceeds of crime".
Tags: a convicted defendant, Court legal aid, Serious Fraud Office, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the SFO