OPINION | Covid loan fraud needs to be addressed
Our Head of Investigations, Tony McClements, argues that different agencies need to come together to tackle rampant Covid loan fraud in the UK.
BLOG | The SFO is an investigating agency. Put an investigator in charge.
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office needs a current or former senior law enforcement officer installed as its head, says Tony McClements.
OPINION | NCA’s anti-kleptocracy initiative overdue
Martin Kenney welcomes a new initiative from the National Crime Agency to seize corruptly-obtained assets in the UK.
OPINION | Why FinCen’s proposed public corporate register will be ‘near useless’
The US Treasury has been eager to establish a corporate ownership registry in its battle against dirty money. Yet the American Bankers Association has described what’s being floated under the Corporate Transparency Act (due to come into force in the US next year) as “fatally flawed”.
OPINION | Time for UK to draft better whistleblowing legislation?
It is clear that current whistleblowing rules are not fit for purpose in the UK, argues Tony McClements, and that legislation needs beefing up.
OPINION | Government and police are failing fraud victims
British police and the UK government are woefully failing to prioritise fraud as a crime, leading to greater need for third parties to step in with efforts such as private prosecutions, suggests Shaun Reardon-John.
OPINION | ECJ ruling on UBO registers ‘victory for common sense’
Martin Kenney welcomes a decision by the European Court of Justice that open beneficial ownership registers – sometimes called open UBO registers – are incompatible with the right to privacy. Unlimited transparency isn’t necessarily effective in the battle against economic criminals, he warns.
OPINION | The Law Commission’s reform of the confiscation regime (UK)
Tony McClements, managing director of investigations at MKS, welcomes the review of the confiscation regime announced by the Law Commission in the UK.
OPINION | Why the U.K. should follow the U.S.’s whistleblowing lead
The UK should follow the USA’s approach to incentivising whistleblowing says Tony McClements, head of investigations at MKS.
OPINION | The future of the SFO
The head of our investigations unit, Tony McClements, believes that a merger between the Serious Fraud Office (UK) and the National Crime Agency (NCA) would not only secure the SFO’s remit for the future, but provide its team with the additional resources and expertise that it currently lacks.