I’m so used to RSS feeds and automatic email updates that I sometimes forget to do my own checking of relevant websites, and so an excellent publication by the Serious Fraud Office nearly escaped my notice. “Serious Economic Crime: A boardroom guide to prevention and compliance” is a compilation of reference essays by the great and the good (mainly lawyers….) – and the foreword says that it is the “first edition”, so that’s promising.
Of course, not all economic crimes are created equal, and so my attention turns at once to the pieces that deal with my true love: money laundering. There are very clear explanations of the legislation (PoCA and the Regs – which just now strikes me as an excellent name for a band, something a bit bluesy and mournful, for smoke-filled nights and angst-ridden mornings), and the offences and penalties. By the by, I am glad to see that what I call the “bullfighter amendment” in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 actually has a proper name: extra-territorial legality. And there are some good, clear explanations of landmark cases such as R v Da Silva (2006).
Other goodies:
- Lots of recent conviction info on bribery (mainly FCPA, of course)
- Scary corporate governance stuff to put the willies up your directors (that sounds ruder than I meant it now I re-read it, but what the hey)
- Stats from the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics to show that there are more and more compliance professionals every day: today that windowless office in the basement – tomorrow the world!
I hate money laundering 