SFO stalwart to succeed Wright
The assistant director of the Serious Fraud Office, Robert Wardle, who has been with the crime-busting agency for 15 years, will replace Ros Wright as director, when she retires next year.
Link: Frontrunners in race to lead SFO emerge
Wardle, a prosecuting solicitor, named as a potential replacement by AccountancyAge.com last month, was appointed last week, and will become director of the SFO in April.
During his years at the SFO, he has worked as a case controller – one of the small group of individuals who oversee fraud cases through from their inception, to trial and verdict – and has headed its policy division.
Wardle will oversee the new expanded role of the SFO, which includes a 50% bigger annual budget. He will lead proceedings from new headquarters, as operations are relocated to the City, to share workspace with the City of London’s police fraud squad, with which it has merged.
The beefed-up SFO will work with the Office of Fair Trading to smash price-fixing cartels, among its many other fraud-busting duties.