INTRODUCTION Contributed by: Aziz Rahman, Rahman Ravelli Solicitors
a framework for DPAs, and Canada, Argentina and Japan introducing DPA-style arrangements. The past year has also seen calls in Australia for a DPA regime to be introduced, although this has not yet become a reality. Such developments illustrate an increasing acknowl - edgement of the value of using DPAs to resolve incidents of serious corporate misconduct, with an emphasis on the corporate accepting liability and the need to put right the wrongs. France in particular seems to be taking to the use of DPAs: the scope of French DPAs was initially limited to certain offences, such as corruption and money laundering, but has since been extended to cover tax fraud and environ - mental offences. The French Financial National Pros - ecutor (PNF) and its Anticorruption Agency (AFA) have published guidelines on CJIPs to encourage the self- reporting and co-operation of corporate wrongdoers. It is worth noting, however, that the last DPA con - cluded in the UK was in December 2023, between the Crown Prosecution Service and Entain plc. This was for Entain’s alleged failure to prevent bribery occurring in its legacy Turkish-facing business, and involved the company agreeing to pay a total of GBP615 million over a four-year period. The SFO, which had conclud - ed all 12 previous UK DPAs prior to the Entain one, has not concluded one since 2021. Enforcing anti-money laundering laws The increasing awareness of the need to tackle mon - ey laundering has put it at the top of the agenda for many nations. The UK’s Economic Crime & Corporate Transparency Act (mentioned earlier) contains provi - sions relating to Companies House reform in order to improve corporate transparency, the seizure and recovery of crypto-assets, and intelligence sharing and proactive intelligence gathering by law enforce - ment. All of these are, in part, a response to the threat of money laundering. In addition, 2025 saw the Treas - ury produce its proposals for improving the effective - ness of the UK Money Laundering, Terrorist Financ - ing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs). April 2024 saw the EU adopt a package of laws to strengthen its efforts to combat money laundering
and terrorist financing. The measures introduced include giving Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) more powers to analyse and detect money laundering and suspend suspicious transactions. Enhanced due dili - gence measures and checks on customers’ identities are now required, and the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terror - ism has been created to ensure that EU anti-money laundering rules are applied correctly and consistently. Self-reporting and whistle-blowers There is now a greater expectation that companies will self-report their wrongdoing, with more lenient treatment often being the reward for such a course of action. For a company to be able to benefit from such an approach, it will need to have whistle-blowing proce - dures in place that are fit for purpose. It will also need to be prepared to act on such reports, which may involve planning and carrying out an internal inves - tigation. Any corporate in such a situation will also have to know how to respond to and negotiate with an investigating agency, particularly if it hopes to obtain a DPA and thus avoid a criminal prosecution. In conclusion All of these issues place demands on those operat - ing in the corporate world. Technological advances and the associated further globalisation of corporate crime make it inevitable that legal frameworks will keep evolving. This is why the role of the legal practi - tioner in ensuring corporate clients choose the most appropriate course of action cannot be over-empha - sised. Neither can the importance of such practition - ers being fully informed when it comes to all such developments. The 2025 edition of the Chambers White-Collar Crime Guide has been written to ensure that practitioners are equipped to manage all aspects of white-collar crime in the jurisdictions in which they operate. It is an informative resource that focuses on and explains the key issues that are faced at all stages of an inves - tigation. In an era of heightened regulatory scrutiny and great - er international co-operation between enforcement
8 CHAMBERS.COM
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