Menu1/8/16: It really is a small world, at least for global anti-corruption enforcement. An Anti-Bribery Alert by law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP highlights recent actions by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), as well as the link between those actions and the US Department of Justice...and Securities and Exchange Commission. The first article provides interesting information about the SFO’s use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements. The second article offers more pointed connections between anti-corruption activities amongst the two countries. According to the Alert, the SFO investigation came on the heels of US press reports about a former employee of the UK-listed, but New York-based, Sweett Group. The employee was charged with bribing an official in the UAE to obtain work for the Sweett Group on a US healthcare project in North Africa. Interestingly, despite Sweett’s discussions with the US DOJ in 2014, there didn’t appear to be much movement in enforcement actions by the DOJ, and the SFO picked up the case.
