Under new legislation making its way through Parliament, the UK is set to prosecute firms as a "failure to prevent fraud" becomes a criminal offense. The measure is included in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, which has broad support and is expected to become law by Spring 2024.
Under the current regime, a company can only be convicted of fraud if a person who can be identified as the "directing mind and will" of the firm was involved in the alleged misconduct. It has been difficult in practice to identify specific such individuals. And even where a "directing mind and will" can be established, which is not trivial in a large company, such individuals very rarely have direct involvement in the related illicit conduct.
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