Legal first in UK anti-corruption measures

Richard Lissack QC of Outer Temple Chambers has been appointed together with Kevin Abikoff of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, Washington DC as corporate monitors for Innospec Inc.

The appointment is the first-ever joint U.S.-U.K monitorship with Lissack being approved and appointed jointly by the Department of Justice in the United States [the DoJ] and the Serious Fraud Office [the SFO] in London and follows Coordinated Global Enforcement Action by the DoJ, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC); the FBI, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) and the SFO.

The role is part of a $40.2 million bribery settlement it reach in March 2010 with the U.S. Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, and the U.K. Serious Fraud Office.  Innospec pleaded guilty to federal charges related to alleged kickbacks to the Iraqi government in the UN oil-for-food program and for violating the U.S. embargo with Cuba. In the UK Innospec Limited admitted changes in connection with the corrupt payments to Indonesian officials. The case attracted considerable attention not least due to the court’s reaction to the plea bargain struck between the parties expressed by Lord Justice Thomas in his sentencing remarks.

"This appointment signals a step change in the SFO’s approach to international enforcement and is entirely consistent with the UK's heightened anti-corruption efforts," Lissack said.

He will be retained as an independent compliance monitor for a minimum of three years to oversee the implementation of the compliance program and report periodically to the DoJ and the SFO.  

Lissack, who is one of the authors of Lissack and Horlick on Bribery, said “Agreeing to a deferred prosecution agreement and the appointment of a corporate monitor has become a familiar condition in the US, particularly in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases.
As part of its own growing anti-corruption efforts, the UK has started looking into monitoring and with the passing into law of the new Act, this sort of approach will only become more common”