ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: Steven Kay KC, Richard Paton-Philip, Kabir Sondhi and Lucy Kinder, 9BR Chambers
into individuals or into the company itself. The prosecutor will look at any internal investigation which has been conducted by the company to determine whether such an investigation may also have undermined any subsequent prosecu - tion (such as whether there has been any poten - tial for fabrication or the destruction of relevant material). For a DPA to be agreed the company may be required to accept conditions in the future man - agement of its business including payment of a financial penalty and/or compensation, requirements for future co-operation with the subsequent prosecution of any individuals at the company, co-operation with other national enforcement agencies (in the case of multi-juris - dictional offending), monitorships, and disgorge - ment of profits. 7.5 Recent Landmark Investigations or Decisions In 2022 international commodities trader Glen - core Energy UK Ltd pleaded guilty to bribery across several countries. The company was fined more than GBP180 million and given a confiscation order of over GBP93 million after an SFO investigation showed it paid USD29 million to gain preferential access to oil in Africa. The case represented the largest ever fine in an SFO case. The case also marked the first ever use of substantive bribery offences for a company, indicating that senior individuals at the company were actively involved in bribery rather than the company merely failing to prevent it. The com - pany was convicted of five substantive charges under Section 1 of the Bribery Act and two under the Section 7 failure to prevent bribery offence. In 2024 six former Glencore employees of the company appeared in court in relation to the bribery offences but they are not due to be tried until 2027.
In December 2023 the CPS entered into its first ever DPA (previous DPAs had been limited to the SFO) with Entain plc, a global online sports betting and gaming business. Entain plc agreed to pay a financial penalty plus disgorgement of profits totalling GBP585 million, as well as mak - ing a charitable donation of GBP20 million. 7.6 Level of Sanctions Imposed Companies who have been convicted of bribery have been sentenced to large fines (such as the ones outlined in the Glencore case discussed in 7.5 Recent Landmark Investigations or Deci- sions ) and those that have entered into DPAs have paid large financial penalties – in the Air - bus DPA, the company was subject to a financial penalty of GBP983.97 million in the UK, as part of a EUR3.6 billion global settlement with several national enforcement agencies. In November 2023, five defendants received sentences ranging from nine months’ imprison - ment (suspended) to 28 months’ imprisonment for offences of bribery. Around GBP175,000 was paid in bribes to Cardiff Council staff by A&T Waste Management for the deliberate misrepre - sentation of amounts of waste being deposited, leading to losses of GBP417,000 to the council and a benefit of GBP238,000 to the company. In September 2024 a former Metropolitan police officer was given a sentence of 40 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to three charges of misconduct in public office, relating to accessing police records and passing on sen - sitive information, stealing items from a member of the public, and using deceased peoples’ bank details.
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