Tom Epps reflects on how new powers in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act are likely to impact on investigations
At a recent conference the Attorney General set out the government strategy to combat fraud. He said:
“Fraud harms us all. Recent research shows that in monetary terms the harm it causes is on par with class A drugs—around £330 per man, woman and child in the country. Fraud is a serious threat to the UK and tackling it requires partnership—prosecutors, police and other investigators, the private sector, local authorities and government working together.”
Lord Goldsmith omitted to state that the prosecution and accomplices in fraud cases may now form a partnership of sorts to tackle crime.
It is envisaged by those investigating fraud cases that accomplices will increasingly be used to provide evidence against their co-defendants and to assist from the early stages of the investigation to point the investigators towards evidence that may be helpful to the investigating team. Immunity from prosecution for accomplices was placed on a statutory footing on 1 April 2006 when s 71 of the Serious Organised Crime
