The Government has confirmed upwards of £8 million of investment over the next three years will be spent on strengthening the Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO) intelligence and information-gathering work and expanding the agency’s use of technology to assist with disclosure.
The extra funding, which is in addition to the £9.3 million of funding announced in the Budget, will be used to bolster SFO’s intelligence capabilities so it can proactively identify and progress the biggest and complex economic crimes.
SFO’s current (24/25) budget is £89.34m – that will now rise by £8.30m across three years to £97.64m.
The Attorney General Lord Hermer KC said: “Fraud and serious economic crime destroy people’s finances and hurts the reputation of doing business in the UK.
“This government is committed to kick-starting economic growth and this additional funding to SFO will modernise their services to tackle serious economic crime, while continuously improving their capabilities to seize assets and make returns to the taxpayer.”
Nicholas Ephgrave QPM, Director of the Serious Fraud Office, said: “This settlement, which provides long-term funding for the Serious Fraud Office recognises the essential work we do in tackling the most serious economic crimes and safeguarding the UK economy so it can continue to thrive.
“This settlement will allow us to invest in our intelligence capability, expand our investigative reach and strengthen our ability to recover criminal assets, including crypto assets, wherever they may be.”
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
