by Karolos Seeger, Aisling Cowell, and Andrew Lee
From left to right: Karolos Seeger, Aisling Cowell, and Andrew Lee (Photos courtesy of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP)
Following confirmation by the UK Government earlier this year that it intended to create a new ‘failure to prevent’ corporate criminal offence, it has now published the much-anticipated draft wording of a failure to prevent fraud offence. This will form part of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (the “ECCT Bill”), which is currently being debated by the House of Lords. Once enacted, the ECCT Bill will be the most important law tackling economic crime since the Bribery Act 2010.[1] It is also the culmination of a long debate about the reform of corporate criminal liability, including a review by the Law Commission completed last year.[2]