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Crime Solicitors

Lessons to be learned from aborted corruption trial of Victor Dahdaleh (20 December 2013)

Date: 20/12/2013
Duncan Lewis, Crime Solicitors, Lessons to be learned from aborted corruption trial of Victor Dahdaleh

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is reviewing the circumstances that led to the collapse of the high-profile trial of Tony Blair’s associate, British-Canadian businessman Victor Dahdaleh.

Having spent six years investigating accusations of bribery and corruption, the prosecution was dropped abruptly on 10 December. The charges involved some £40 million that was allegedly paid by Mr Dahdaleh to former managers of Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) in order to secure a cut from contracts worth £2 billion.

The SFO has had a patchy record recently, and narrowly escaped being subsumed into the National Crime Agency created by Home Secretary Theresa May. Whilst there have been notable successes, such as the conviction for fraud of Asil Nadir, who escaped from the UK 19 years ago, there have also been spectacular failures, such as the admission by the SFO that it had lost 81 audiotapes and 32,000 pages of data linked to a deal between BAE's Al Yamamah and Saudi Arabia, where bribery investigations were being made.

Another high-profile case, the Tchenguiz property investors’ inquiry, was badly bungled and led to a damages claim for £300 million.

Allegations of fraud

Allegations of fraud can be extremely damaging to both personal and professional reputations, hence the large damages claim in the case of the Tchenguiz property investors. Not all cases of fraud are at this high-profile level, however, although instances are more prevalent than many people realise.

Certainly, there are big companies that commit fraudulent offences on a large scale, as illustrated by recent allegations against tagging contractors G4S and Serco, but there are also individuals and small groups of people who conspire to defraud others.

Among the most common forms of fraud known to experienced fraud lawyers are being promised non-existent services in return for advance payment (advance fee fraud), identity theft (passport and ID fraud) and investment fraud, particularly via fraudulent schemes.

Tax and benefit fraud, and fraud involving Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), usually involves making false claims in order to pay less tax or receive benefits. Creating false bank accounts, under an assumed name, is fraudulent and has serious implications. In the same way, computer hacking is treated as a crime, even if no information or data has been stolen.

What to do

Given the repercussions of being accused of fraud, it is vitally important to get professional help quickly. At Duncan Lewis there is a highly specialised team of fraud solicitors with considerable experience of defending people who have been accused of fraud. In instances of allegations of advance fee fraud, for example, the process of compiling the evidence for a defence can be lengthy and complex, so it is essential that the accused start their defence process as quickly as possible.

Since 2002, the court has had powers to confiscate assets and issue restraint orders right at the beginning of an investigation, if the authorities suspect criminal activity. Refusal to pay a sum of money required by a confiscation order can sometimes result in a prison sentence, so it is really important to get expert help right from the start if someone is accused of fraud.


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