UK fraud prosecutor seeks extra funds for Libor, other cases
Britain's Serious Fraud Office is seeking additional funds as it faces a shortfall because of the costs of pursuing a number of high-profile cases
Britain’s leading fraud prosecutor needs an extra 19 million pounds (HK$244 million) by the end of March to help to pay for complex investigations, including a high-profile benchmark fixing inquiry, and a huge damages suit.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said on Thursday the extra funding was needed in part for its inquiry into Libor (London interbank offered rate) benchmark fixing, a probe into Barclays’ fundraising from Qatar, a Rolls Royce investigation and to meet costs linked to a 300 million pound damages suit launched by the property moguls the Tchenguiz brothers.
“This funding is ‘blockbuster’ funding for the course of our investigation and prosecution work in the remainder of this financial year,” the agency said in a statement.
Solicitor General Oliver Heald said the SFO, which can request extra cash from the Treasury (finance department) as so-called “blockbuster funding” to beef-up a tight annual budget of around 28 million pounds, needed an 11 million pound advance on the 19 million urgently.
“The SFO has incurred higher than anticipated expenditure and a reserve claim has been agreed by HM Treasury as part of the supplementary estimate last year-14 process,” Heald, a government lawyer, said in a written ministerial statement.
“The advance is required to meet an urgent cash requirement on existing services pending parliamentary approval ...,” he added.
