Failure to remember: why organisations shouldn’t forget about bribery and tax evasion

Amongst the noise surrounding the new failure to prevent fraud offence, it would be easy for organisations to lose sight of the existing corporate crime offences for failing to prevent bribery and tax evasion. HMRC's first prosecution for the offence of failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion provides a timely reminder to ensure proportionate control measures are in place to mitigate against the risks of bribery and tax evasion.

The existing failure to prevent offences

Failure to prevent bribery

It is an offence (under the Bribery Act 2010) for a commercial organisation to fail to prevent bribery by a person performing services on behalf of the organisation. There is a defence where an organisation can show it had adequate procedures in place to prevent such bribery.

The most recent organisation convicted under the prevent bribery offence was Glencore Energy (UK) Limited, who received a fine of £182,935,392.

In April 2025, the Serious Fraud Offence charged United Insurance Brokers Limited with the corporate offence and it is expected to be the first contested trial before a jury under the failure to prevent offence.

Failure to prevent tax evasion

It is an offence (under the Criminal Finances Act 2017) for a commercial organisation to fail to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion by a person performing services on behalf of the organisation. There is a defence where an organisation can show it had reasonable prevention procedures in place to prevent the tax evasion.

Bennett Verby Ltd, a Stockport-based accountancy firm, has become the first company to be charged under the failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion offence. The charges relate to an alleged £16 million fraud where six individuals, including the former director, were also charged with related offences including cheating the public revenue and money laundering. The trial is due to start on 27 September 2027.

Mitigating risk of corporate liability

Organisations should ensure adequate/reasonable prevention procedures are in place to mitigate the risks of corporate liability that reflect the following principles:

1. Risk assessment;
2. Proportionate procedures;
3. Top-level commitment;
4. Due diligence;
5. Communication and training; and
6. Monitoring and review.

In practical terms, this means organisations should:

• Review and update risk assessments for bribery and tax evasion to ensure reasonable and adequate controls are in place;
• Revisit their risk appetite and tolerance levels, and ensure procedures for monitoring and reporting risks are in place; and
• Review and update policies to align with updates made in relation to the above.

For further information and guidance, please get in touch with our regulatory team.