Fraudsters to get plea bargain option
Govt review will see changes made to fraud trials
The opportunity for suspected fraudsters to enter into plea bargain
agreements is just one of the changes that will emerge from the government’s
Fraud Review, the BBC reported.
With the cost of fraud in the UK rising by 30% to £1bn in 2005 from a year
earlier (according to mid-tier firm BDO Stoy Hayward), the review was set in
place to crackdown on this rampant crime.
Besides the plea bargain, the review also suggested a specialist ‘financial
court’ to try cases, in the wake of several high-profile collapsed trials.
It also recommended national centres to set strategy and correct the ‘chronic
under-reporting’ of fraud.
A three-month consultation process in now place.