Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, whether he has plans to conduct a review of the performance of the Serious Fraud Office.
Answered by Geoffrey Cox
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is an independent organisation and is a key player in the response to economic crime, investigating and prosecuting some of the most serious and complex cases and recovering proceeds of crime, with a case conviction rate of over 83% during the past five years. The SFO continues to support the Government’s programme of reforms to improve our response, including the creation of the new National Economic Crime Centre. As the superintending Minister for the SFO, I regularly meet with the Director of the SFO where we discuss performance and key issues in relation to economic crime.
The new Director of the SFO, Lisa Osofsky, joined the SFO last month and is committed to building on the existing successes of the SFO and continuing to support the multi-agency response to economic crime.