UK Serious Fraud Office Secures Its Second DPA

The President of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court has given final approval to the Serious Fraud Office's ("SFO") second ever Deferred Prosecution Agreement ("DPA"). This follows the Standard Bank DPA concluded in November 2015, approximately two years after the introduction in the UK of DPAs, by the Crown and Courts Act 2013.

A DPA may be negotiated with a party where, broadly, there are reasonable grounds to believe that there is a realistic prospect of conviction and that entering into a DPA is in the public interest. However, before it can be finalised, the prosecutor must apply to the court for a declaration that entering into a DPA is likely to be in the interests of justice and that the proposed terms are fair, reasonable and proportionate. The prosecutor must then make a further application to court for approval once the terms of the DPA are finalised¹.