There are some stunning statistics in the independent review into fraud prosecution led by KC Jonathan Fisher, published earlier this week:
- Fraud cases take eight times longer than the average criminal case to be charged after a criminal investigation has been opened.
- A typical serious fraud case takes twice as long as an ordinary case to get through the court system
- Fraud accounts for 44% of criminal surveyed activity, within which 80% is attributable to digital and internet-facilitated fraud
And Fisher is clearly seething with frustration at this situation. There are some zinging, alarming and heartfelt conclusions in his review. The slow pace of fraud cases within the criminal justice system he says: “coupled with near-certain impunity for offenders, creates fertile ground for fraud to flourish as a low-risk, high-reward activity… the message to offenders is plain: the odds are overwhelmingly in their favour.”
Fisher offers a stark warning “if the Government fails to act decisively, it will sleepwalk into a future where fraud becomes endemic—eroding public trust, undermining autonomy and prosperity, and compromising the rule of law.”
He contrasts the unique factors that make fraud so hard and expensive to prosecute – the huge amount of digital material involved, the international nature of it – with the lack of resourcing and specialist skills. Enforcement, he says, “has been fragmented and sluggish.”
Most importantly, Fisher also hones in on the role of tech companies – something that the financial sector has long highlighted. “Corporate and platform accountability is weak” he concludes and must be addressed given the integral role tech platforms play in facilitating fraud.
Fisher has urged the government to develop a proactive and ambitious strategy to take the fight to fraud in six key areas:
- Significantly enhancing information sharing between the public and private sectors – with greater statutory footing for intelligence sharing both between public and private sectors, and within the public sector.
- Increasing corporate accountability, particularly for digital and communications providers – including a new failure to prevent offence for failing to stop fraud occurring on their platforms, and an anti-fraud levy.
- Reinforcing and updating legislation – from giving law enforcement civil fining powers for low-level money laundering, to increasing sentences for serious fraud and money laundering to 20 years, and expanding the extraterritorial reach of the Serious Fraud Office.
- Building a global coalition to fight fraud, including channels to enable information sharing more effectively between international law enforcement partners and using financial sanctions to impose tough consequences on harmful actors operating outside UK jurisdiction.
- Updating court infrastructure – including with specialist training for judges and a new judicial practice direction.
- Placing victims and whistleblowers at the heart of the system – including drawing up legislation that allows the SFO to introduce a whistleblower incentivisation scheme.
The devastating effects of fraud on the lives of ordinary citizens, and the long-standing lack of accountability for the big tech platforms that facilitate it, should make this a priority issue for the incoming Prime Minister.
And many of the 47 recommendations for tackling fraud proposed in Fisher’s Review, from tougher sentences to greater corporate accountability, and from accelerating the pace that cases move through the criminal justice system to better information sharing, would also greatly benefit efforts to tackle other economic crimes such as corruption and money laundering.
So we are waiting with bated breath to see if the new government meets the challenge set out by Fisher in his review to finally get a grip on one of the UK’s most prevalent crimes.
