The Lord Chancellor's and Law Officers' Departmental Report 1998-1999

Aim and Objectives

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The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was established in 1988, following the 1986 Fraud Trials Committee Report (the Roskill Report). Its role is to investigate and prosecute cases of serious or complex fraud in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and thus contribute to deterring such fraud.

The creation of the SFO introduced a new multi-disciplinary approach to the investigation and prosecution of serious fraud. Each case is allocated to a team which includes lawyers, financial investigators, information technology and other specialists, law clerks and police officers, of whom there are a substantial number working on SFO cases at any one time. The SFO makes extensive use of private sector expertise as necessary, employing private sector accountants to assist in investigations and using counsel to prosecute.

The SFO is part of the criminal justice system in the United Kingdom, and is affected by changes and developments in that system. To achieve its aims and objectives it must take into account and be part of developments in the wider world of law enforcement and financial regulation as well as acknowledging the financial parameters within which it must operate.

Further Information

Further information on the work of the SFO may be obtained from:

Bibliography

Serious Fraud Office Annual Report 1996-97, HMSO October 1997.

Supply Estimates 1997-98 Class VIII Lord Chancellor's and Law Officers' Departments, HMSO March 1996

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