News & what's on - Written by on Thursday, September 29, 2011 0:08 - 0 Comments

Solicitor General confirms Deferred Prosecution Agreements are on the table

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Last week we reported that Rosemary Davies, Legal Director Ministry of Justice recently said:

“The Law Officers, the Attorney, the Advocate General and Solicitor General, are consulting now on their guidelines on plea discussions, and there will be further work in the context of the new National Crime Agency and the Economic Crime Command, which will look at new powers and will include things like deferred prosecutions.”

Today in three pieces here, here and here) the Financial Times reports that in an interview with the Solicitor General, Edward Garnier, he said:

“You have to have a cost-benefit analysis. If I can produce a system which has all the benefits [of the US] and can do justice, as well as making money for this country, it seems to me that there’s something to be thought about…..This provides for a way of dealing with criminality without causing collateral damage.”

The possibility of corporate plea bargaining and entry into Deferred Prosecution Agreements is under active consideration by the UK government.

We understand that after a short period of taking soundings a formal government consultation process could follow shortly.

The current UK process which does not provide the certainty of outcome of the US system is in need of an overhaul.

Two key features in any new system must be the delivery of certainty of outcome for corporates combined with transparency in calculation of penalties.

We look forward to feeding into the process.

Image © Crown Copyright 2011

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