Fraud office seeks £19m for ‘big’ cases

The UK Serious Fraud Office sought an extra £19m (€23m) from the government to pay for “blockbuster” cases including a probe into manipulation of benchmark interest rates.

The SFO needs the almost 60% increase in funding to “meet an urgent cash requirement on existing services,” according to a statement from the attorney general’s office. The money would go to the agency’s probes on Libor, Rolls-Royce Holdings and Barclays, as well as potential litigation costs incurred over a collapsed case involving property tycoons Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz.

While the SFO’s budget plunged to £32m in 2013-2014 from £52m in 2008, the agency has a “blockbuster funding” agreement with the Treasury that allows it to ask for a top-up for important cases. The SFO previously received £3.5m in 2012 to help fund its investigation into the rigging of the London interbank offered rate benchmark, or Libor.

“This is entirely predictable,” said Labour legal issues spokesperson Emily Thornberry. “I have been saying for months that the scale and pace of budget cuts inflicted on the SFO will make prosecuting its caseload impossible.”

The SFO bid was formally submitted to the parliament yesterday.

The SFO started investigating Libor-rigging in Jul 2012 and has so far charged three people who are scheduled to stand trial next year.

One month later, the agency opened an inquiry into certain commercial arrangements in 2008 between Barclays and Qatar Holdings, and in December it started a criminal investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption at Rolls Royce.

— Bloomberg