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On 25 September 2009, Peter Blair QC was involved in the first ever serious fraud plea bargain under the recent Attorney General’s Guidelines.
A negotiated deal between the Serious Fraud Office and Mabey & Johnson Limited was approved at Southwark Crown Court by the Recorder of Westminster, HHJ Geoffrey Rivlin QC.
This marked the first completed case of a long and complex inquiry into UK companies breaching the Iraq ‘Oil for Food’ sanctions.
The Court was crowded with representatives of the business press, news journalists, defence fraud solicitors and representatives of international governments as they watched how this new procedure operated with a view to anticipated cases in the pipeline.
The company was fined £2,000,000 for breaching the sanctions and agreed to making reparations of £618,000 to the United Nations Development Fund for Iraq, as well as the setting up of a monitoring auditor.
Peter Blair QC, who leads another silk from a set of chambers in London, continues to be involved in advising the SFO with this investigation.