ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: Steven Kay KC, Richard Paton-Philip, Kabir Sondhi and Lucy Kinder, 9BR Chambers
4.4 Exempt Sectors/Industries Save for the limited extent to which the Brib - ery Act’s specific defences apply (as set out in 4.1 Defences ) there are no sectors or industries exempt from the offences identified previously. 4.5 Safe Harbour or Amnesty Programme The criminal law of England & Wales does not have safe harbour or amnesty programmes. If an individual self-reports corruption, or is a “whistle-blower”, they may avoid prosecution or, if prosecuted, receive a significant reduction of any potential sanction. For corporates, if a self-report is made to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) (or, indeed, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)) in respect of bribery offences and remediation efforts are demon - strated, this may have a significant bearing on whether the SFO chooses to pursue a prosecu - tion against the corporate. If a corporate wishes to enter into negotiations over a Deferred Pros - ecution Agreement, it will usually be expected to have self-reported and/or shown an exceptional level of co-operation with authorities and signifi - cant remedial efforts. As discussed, a company charged with Section 7 failure to prevent bribery can avail itself of an adequate procedures defence, but this does not provide “safe harbour” as such.
With regard to the offences under the Bribery Act: • An individual guilty of an offence under Sec - tions 1, 2 or 6 on summary conviction can receive a prison term of up to six months for one offence or 12 months (for more than one offence). NB: It is likely that the rules relating to maximum sentences in the Magistrates’ Court will soon change as a result of impend - ing government proposals, but at the time of writing these rules apply. • An individual guilty of an offence under Sec - tions 1, 2, or 6 convicted on indictment can be imprisoned for up to ten years, or receive a fine, or both. • A corporate body on conviction of an offence under Sections 1, 2, 6 or 7 can receive an unlimited fine. 5.2 Guidelines Applicable to the Assessment of Penalties Guidelines on sentencing in England & Wales are issued by the Sentencing Council. Whilst sentencing guidelines now cover a large num - ber of the more commonly encountered criminal offences, there are many more offences that are not covered (including many of those that cover types of corruption). The courts are obliged to consider applicable sentencing guidelines when passing sentence. There are specific guidelines for offences of bribery under the Bribery Act – one cover - ing individuals, the other covering corporates. No minimum sentences operate. Previous rel - evant convictions are an aggravating factor and increase the seriousness of offending and there - fore the likely sentence.
5. Penalties for Violations 5.1 Penalties on Conviction
As discussed, it is not possible here to set out all of the penalties upon conviction for all the offences that could be used to cover the various types of corruption.
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