UK-Based Company and Seven Individuals Charged in the UK With Bribery Surrounding Angola Operations

Anti-Corruption UK Bribery Act

On July 13, the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) charged a UK-based logistics and freight operations company, along with seven current and former executives, with making corrupt payments in violation of Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906. The company is a subsidiary of a privately-owned company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. The conduct at issue is alleged to have occurred between January 2005 and December 2006, and involves an alleged conspiracy to bribe an agent of an Angolan state oil company to bolster the subsidiary company’s business in the Republic of Angola.

Among other things, Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 criminalizes the act of offering any gift or consideration to induce an agent to take action in relation to the agent’s principal. Notably, the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, and, collectively, the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889-1916, were repealed and replaced by the Bribery Act 2010, which took effect on July 1, 2011. The conduct at issue, however, occurred prior to the enactment of the Bribery Act and, although the Prevention of Corruption Acts were repealed, the government can still use them to prosecute offenses committed before the repeal.

The SFO accepted the case for investigation in September 2014. The subsidiary company and the charged individuals are now scheduled to appear before the Westminster Magistrate’s Court on August 4, 2016.