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<table><tbody><tr><td><p>We continue to work closely with the SFO and CPS to identify
any policy changes that could support their work. This is why we sought the introduction
of a provision in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill to extend the
SFO’s pre-investigation powers under section 2A of the Criminal Justice Act 1987.
The CPS published its first ever Economic Crime Strategy in March 2021 to focus its
efforts in tackling the economic crime threat. The Serious Economic, Organised Crime
and International Directorate (SEOCID) ensures that the CPS has the resilience, expertise
and flexibility in its staff and organisational structure to best respond to new and
changing areas of complex crime. The CPS and SFO continue to deliver real success
in the fight against economic crime. This financial year alone, the SFO has brought
seven cases to trial involving criminality valued at above £500 million. Five of these
trials have already concluded, and each case resulted in guilty pleas or convictions.
The SFO prosecution of Glencore saw the company pay a record fine of £280 million
for its actions. In the year ending September 2022 the CPS prosecuted 6,381 defendants,
where Fraud and Forgery was the principal offence, and the conviction rate was 83.4%.
The CPS Fraud and Forgery charge rate was at 79% in Q2 22/23, 5 percentage points
higher than the previous quarter.</p></td></tr></tbody></table>
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