News

The U.K. government on Friday published long-delayed proposals to hold banks and other financial institutions criminally responsible for money laundering, fraud and false accounting by staff, and to lower the burden of proof on prosecutors to determine criminal liability. Difficulties in meeting the U.K. legal standard of having to prove a senior "directing mind and will" responsible for the criminal conduct at hand led to the 2010 adoption of a corporate offense for failure to prevent bribery, and have informed a recent set of proposals to combat other economic crimes, including tax evasion. Plans currently under consideration include adopting a...