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RJW press release on Balfour Beatty/ SFO settlement
26 October 2008
Russell Jones & Walker represented Balfour Beatty in the ground breaking agreement reached with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) this week. The agreement related to certain payments in respect of the execution of its joint venture contract to build the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt. The project was delivered to the highest international construction standards and to the customer’s complete satisfaction and was completed in 2001 by a Balfour Beatty business which was discontinued some time ago.
Rod Fletcher and Jeremy Summers led the RJW team that acted for the company throughout the 3 year investigation and instructed Nicholas Purnell QC, Hugo Keith and Kennedy Talbot. Chris Vaughan, General Counsel of Balfour Beatty, led the discussions with the SFO on behalf of the company.
Balfour Beatty carried out its own fully documented internal investigation and self-reported the findings to the appropriate authorities, including the SFO, in April 2005 for further investigation. The SFO investigation has determined that there was a failure to keep accurate records within a subsidiary of Balfour Beatty in respect of the contract, that no proceedings should be issued against any individual or corporate body arising out of the investigation and has concluded that the matter is suitable for civil resolution.
Rod Fletcher, head of RJW’s Business and Regulatory Investigation department, said:
"It has been increasingly clear for some time that the authorities want to take a more American approach to corporate enforcement. However, because this was the first time such an approach has been deployed, we faced a number of new challenges and I am pleased that we have been able to overcome these successfully. I am sure that, in appropriate circumstances, this will provide a template for future enforcement action and that the wider business community will look at this agreement with great interest."