A year without raids from SFO

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has not undertaken a single raid in the past year, according to statistics obtained by law firm Pinsent Masons.

Between 2008 and 2010 the SFO conducted between 43 and 63 raids a year, but that halted after the first quarter of 2011.

According to Pinsent Masons, the figures suggest that the SFO has taken an “overly cautious” position following its dawn raids on the properties of businessmen Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz in March 2011, for which it was later forced to apologise due to flaws in its search warrants.

The law firm added that serious fraud “threatens to damage UK plc” if not checked.