bark & co solicitors london: deferred prosecution agreements

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Co Solicitors Londo UBS £1.4bn fraud accused Kweku Adoboli granted bail, Bark & Co London news. A City trader accused of gambling away a record £1.4 billion in a banking fraud has been granted bail. Kweku Adoboli, 32, from Clark Street, Whitechapel, east London, is accused of losing the money while working for Swiss banking giant UBS. He denied two counts of fraud and two counts of false accounting at an earlier hearing but was remanded in custody. Today after a bail hearing held behind closed doors at Southwark Crown Court,Bark & Co Solicitors reports, Adoboli was granted bail on the condition that he must reside at a friend’s house and abide by a curfew enforced using an electronic tag.

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Pressbox (Press Release) - The director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Solicitor General, Edward Garnier QC, have recently made no secret of the fact that they consider the criminal justice system to be incapable of dealing with corporate prosecutions in a way that refects commercial realities. The blunt impact of a prosecution of a company has the impact of damaging innocent parties including employees, shareholders and creditors. Garnier cited the cautionary example of the ill-effects of prosecution caused to Arthur Andersen, eventually acquitted on charges of obstruction of justice by the US Supreme Court, many years after the allegations had destroyed the company. US prosecutors have a tool at their disposal, the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), which is being touted as a viable alternative to the present options of either prosecution or civil recovery. Much of the impetus for the reform has been caused by the difficulties faced by the SFO when they sought to prosecute Innospec. The SFO effectively had already agreed with the company, pre-sentencing, the nature of the sentence in return for a guilty plea. This was criticized by Thomas LJ who reminded the SFO that it is for the Judge to determine sentence at his discretion and especially that any plea must be “rigorously scrutinized in open court”.

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Page 1: Bark & Co Solicitors London: Deferred Prosecution Agreements

Bark & Co Solicitors London NewsUBS £1.4bn fraud accused Kweku Adoboli granted bail, Bark & Co London news.

A City trader accused of gambling away a record £1.4 billion in a banking fraud has been granted bail.Kweku Adoboli, 32, from Clark Street, Whitechapel, east London, is accused of losing the money while working for Swiss banking giant UBS.He denied two counts of fraud and two counts of false accounting at an earlier hearing but was remanded in custody.Today after a bail hearing held behind closed doors at Southwark Crown Court,Bark & Co Solicitorsreports, Adoboli was granted bail on the condition that he must reside at a friend’s house and abide by a curfew enforced using an electronic tag.

Page 2: Bark & Co Solicitors London: Deferred Prosecution Agreements

UBS ‘rogue’ trader Kweku Adoboli to be bailedA City trader accused of a £1.4bn ($2.2bn) fraud at the London offices of Swiss banking

giant UBS is to be freed from Wandsworth Prison on bail.Kweku Adoboli, 32, will be released on Monday with an electronic tag ahead of his trial in September, a bail hearing at Southwark Crown Court heard.He was “delighted” by the decision, his lawyer Giles Bark-Jones said.The trader, who was arrested in September last year, denies two charges of false accounting and two of fraud.Mr Bark-Jones told the BBC and Bark & Co Solicitors: “Our client is both emotional and delighted at the outcome of today’s bail hearing. He looks forward to working on his case at our London offices.”Mr Adoboli, of Clark Street, east London, is accused of unauthorised trading while working for UBS’s global synthetic equities division, where he bought and sold exchange traded funds.

Page 3: Bark & Co Solicitors London: Deferred Prosecution Agreements

Mr Kweku Adoboli Granted Bail, Bark & Co Solicitors London news.Mr Kweku Adoboli was today granted bail after a successful bail application at Southwark

Crown Court. Mr Tim Harris, Solicitor on this matter said his client was “delighted, very emotional and would like to thank all his family and friends for their support”. Mr Adoboli is due to be released from Wandsworth prison on Monday pending the bail terms being satisfied.Mr Bark-Jones, partner at Bark & Co Solicitors said “Our client is both emotional and delighted at the outcome of today’s bail hearing. He looks forward to working on his case at our London offices.”

Page 4: Bark & Co Solicitors London: Deferred Prosecution Agreements

Abbey Forwarding v Richard Hone and Others, Bark & Co

Solicitors reports.In a two week trial in the High Court, Bark & Co successfully defended the former directors of Abbey Forwarding Limited in the High Court in an action brought by the liquidator of the company against them for breach of fiduciary duty.Abbey Forwarding Limited was a reputable and established bonded warehouse which operated from premises in east London from 1971 until the beginning of 2009. In February of 2009 Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”) raised assessments against the company for approximately £6 million and at an ex parte hearing successfully applied to have the company placed into provisional liquidation on the basis that the company had actively participated in diversion fraud.The HMRC appointed liquidator immediately brought proceedings against the directors for breach of fiduciary duty alleging fraud against 3 of the directors. The basis for the claim and provisional liquidation by HMRC was that the directors fraudulently, or in the alternative negligently, allowed loads of duty suspended alcohol to be illegally diverted and sold onto the UK market.The claim was dismissed in its entirety. In his judgement Mr Justice Lewison determined that not only was there insufficient evidence of any fraudulent behaviour on the part of the directors, but that the loads of alcohol had in fact reached their destinations and there was insufficient evidence to show any fraudulent diversion at all. The directors were fully exonerated and the liquidator was ordered to pay damages to the directors as well as their costs.

Page 5: Bark & Co Solicitors London: Deferred Prosecution Agreements

Bark & Co Solicitors London News: HMRC Crackdown on

Offshore AccountsIt has recently come to our attention that two Britons have been arrested on suspicion of using Swiss Bank accounts held with HSBC to evade UK taxes. This could lead to the first criminal prosecutions in a three year clampdown on offshore tax evasion by HMRC.According to our source, HMRC made the arrests late last year and both individuals have been released on bail pending charges. These arrests are thought to have resulted from the review of the information stolen from HSBC’s private bank in Zurich by Herve Falciani, a French software engineer, which contained account information pertaining to 6,600 accounts held by UK residents.This significant development once again underlines HMRC’s desire to stamp out tax evasion linked to funds retained in offshore accounts and signals a hardening of HMRC’s attitude. News of these arrests may counter the concerted criticism of HMRC’s crackdown on tax evasion. Some commentators have accused the taxman of shying away from mounting criminal prosecutions and the deterrent message that they convey to the tax-paying population. We will of course keep you updated on this development.

Page 6: Bark & Co Solicitors London: Deferred Prosecution Agreements

In a similar vein, news reached us yesterday that the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks has been provided with a raft of information concerning 2,000 wealthy individuals and corporations that held accounts with Bank Julius Baer in the British Virgin Islands tax haven. Rudolf Elmer, who was previously employed by Julius Baer to oversee the Caribbean operations of the Swiss Bank for eight years until he was dismissed in 2002, handed over the discs to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during a press conference. Mr Assange has promised to publish the details once the information has been verified.WLH understands that WikiLeaks is taking legal advice on what information they can release, but it is likely that the website will not hold back as evidenced during previous high profile “leaks.”Rudolf Elmer is currently standing trial accused of coercion and breaching banking secrecy laws in Switzerland and his motive in supplying this information is to expose mass potential tax evasion. He told the Observer newspaper last weekend that those named in the documents come from “the US, Britain, Germany, Austria and Asia, and include business people, politicians, people who make their living in the arts and multinational companies-from both sides of the Atlantic.” It is unclear whether HMRC has been passed this information, however it is clear that the taxman will be monitoring developments very closely. It is also likely that those individuals who might be affected and have tax issues stemming from the ownership of such accounts may be seeking urgent professional advice.This development reinforces the message that if you have an undeclared offshore account, then you should come forward voluntarily and resolve the issue before HMRC comes calling. It is no longer an option to bury your head in the sand and hope it will all go away.We will update this story as it develops, however should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Page 7: Bark & Co Solicitors London: Deferred Prosecution Agreements

Bark & Co Solicitors London News: $2.2 Bn

Liberian deal being investigated by City of

London Police

Fred Bunn are instructed to represent Mr A. He is under investigation by City of London Police Overseas Anti Corruption Unit concerning alleged improprieties in a $2.2 billion deal with the Liberian Government for the concession over 400,000 hectares of rainforest to be used for a carbon offset project. The matter is being investigated under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906. All allegations are denied.An investigation was also launched by the Liberian President.

Page 8: Bark & Co Solicitors London: Deferred Prosecution Agreements

R v Thakrar – client acquitted, Bark & Co Solicitors London

News

Fred Bunn has successfully secured the acquittal of Kevan Thakrar. Our client is a serving prisoner having previously been convicted of triple murder in 2009.Kevan Thakrar was charged with 2 counts of attempted murder and 3 counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. All allegations related to attacks on prison officers in HMP Frankland, Durham.Giving evidence, Kevan Thakrar informed the jury that he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following an attack on him by officers within the prison system. His defense centered around the bullying and racism that he has sustained whilst in the prison system and that his actions were in self defense.The Solicitor instructed, Marie Bourke, along with a dedicated defense team from Bark & Co, sought and succeeded in obtaining information which severely undermined the prosecution case and highlighted the torturous regime which is alive within the prison system. Great lengths were taken to secure evidence from legal professionals, professionals within the medical field, as well serving prisoners.