UK And US Intervene in Greek Corruption Trial

Introduction

When Lisa Osofsky became the Director of the Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") last year, it was widely reported that she wanted to 'crack' more cases using plea agreements. In a speech in Washington DC on 4 December 2018, Ms Osofsky said: 

"...we in the UK have heard loud and clear from our colleagues in the United States how valuable co-operators can be in cracking white collar cases. We have different practices and different rules in Britain, and co-operators have, to date, been more widely used in narcotics or gang cases. Suffice to say, we are intently exploring this area in the white collar world."

What is less well known, however, is that whilst Ms Osofsky was extolling the virtues of plea agreements, Mr Dougall – the SFO's first co-operating defendant in a major overseas bribery and corruption case – was being prosecuted in Greece (using SFO-sourced material) for conduct that was part of, or wholly collateral to, his UK conviction.