David Green to remain head of SFO

David Green will be hoping his extension will allow him sufficient time to continue what he has started.  One issue which is likely to be a primary concern is reforming the  law on corporate criminal liability.  Last year the SFO was dealt a crushing blow when the Government announced that it would not proceed with introducing a new offence of failure to prevent economic crime.   

Mr Green has often spoken out about the inadequate powers available to the SFO in their fight against corporate crime.  He advocated that the current identification principle does not provide the SFO with sufficient powers to amount successful prosecutions against corporates.  He suggested that the offence of failure to prevent bribery under s.7 of the bribery act should be extended to encompass a wider range of economic criminal offences.   At the time there had been no prosecutions under the s7 and the Government stated that there was little evidence of corporate economic wrongdoing going unpunished.  The SFO have now secured their first conviction under section 7.  If more convictions follow then this may provide Mr Green the ammunition he needs to reignite his campaign.  

Mr Green's tenure has also seen him oversee the SFO entering into its first Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA).  Mr Green's extension will allow him to continue overseeing the SFO's progress with regards to DPA's and it is likely that there will be many proposed agreements over the coming years.  Mr Green himself has stated that there are further proposed DPA's in the pipeline.