Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Corruption definition

What does Corruption mean? In legal practice, corruption describes conduct by which a person abuses an entrusted position or influence to secure an improper benefit, typically through bribery, kickbacks, undue influence or manipulation of decisions in public or commercial contexts. It is a descriptive umbrella term used across criminal law, public law, procurement and compliance, rather than a single offence. In England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, there is no general statutory definition of “corruption”. The Bribery Act 2010 (UK-wide) instead creates specific offences of bribing, being bribed, bribery of foreign public officials and the corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery; it...

SFO dawn raids: CJA 1987 powers, warrant execution, penalties and ECCTA failure to prevent fraud (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)

Published by a LexisNexis Risk & Compliance expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note explains what the SFO is, why it may conduct a raid, the scope of its powers, and the implications of not co-operating with one.

What is the SFO?

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigates serious or complex fraud and corruption, often featuring an international aspect or likely to draw publicity. The SFO states it undertakes a small number of large economic crime cases. When deciding whether to open an investigation, the Director applies the Statement of Principle, taking into account:

whether the apparent criminality undermines UK PLC commercial or financial interests in general and in the City of London in particular
whether the actual or potential financial loss involved is high
whether actual or potential economic harm is significant
whether there is a significant public interest element
whether there is a new species of fraud

The SFO’s remit covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but not Scotland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.

Main reasons for a SFO raid

The SFO website also has a reporting function that identifies three main types of criminality that may be reported to...

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Ilana Baines

PCB Byrne

Ilana is an accomplished criminal litigation lawyer who has extensive experience defending in complex cases including bribery, corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, Account Freezing Orders, insider dealing, fraud by abuse of position, fraudulent selling and land banking.Ilana’s experience covers investigations and prosecutions brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), The Royal Mail and National Trading Standards. She regularly advises professional clients on regulatory proceedings, including Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) investigations and interventions. Ilana also specialises in Restraint and Confiscation proceedings.Notable Cases:Operation Puffin: £8.7 million involving the supply of potatoes to Sainsbury’s.Operation Elveden: Represented a Sun journalist on charges of conspiracy to commit Misconduct in Public Office.Operation Cotton: FCA’s first prosecution of Land Banking, amounting to £4.3 million.SFO investigation into accounting practices at Tesco.SFO prosecution in respect of LIBOR...

Michael Potts

PCB Byrne

Michael is a specialist in the defence of corporate and financial crime and regulatory investigations and prosecutions. He has represented senior executives and other professionals in many high-profile domestic and international investigations and prosecutions conducted by the SFO, FCA, NCA and other prosecution/regulatory agencies.Michael regularly advises and represents senior financial services personnel facing FCA/PRA and other regulator investigations and disciplinary action. He also advises and represents high-net-worth individuals facing revenue investigations and potential prosecutions.Michael has also been extensively involved in advising clients facing financial and trade sanctions both domestically and globally with experience of sanctions regimes in a range of countries. His most recent experience includes representing high-net-worth individuals that are the subject of sanctions imposed by OFAC, OFSI and the Minister for External Relations and Financial Services (Jersey), including challenging the ‘designated’ status of a number of...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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