Corporate Investigation

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If you work in Corporate Investigation, you might like these courses…

CLICK THIS LINK FOR A LIST OF CURRENTLY AVAILABLE OPEN COURSES (…opens in new window…)

Courses in Investigation and Managing Investigations
Our Professional Qualifications are some of the most in-depth courses available.  Modular and easily tailored to your job specifications, click the link above for more information.

Corporate Investigations – Price Code H
A three day course that introduces delegates to housing fraud, internal fraud, insurance fraud, theft.  Includes sessions on planning to expand into corporate fraud and policies and procedures.

The Preventing & Detecting Series
A series of seven courses covering everything from procurement fraud to Direct Payments fraud.  These courses will enable you to identify the risk of fraud, know what preventative measures to put in place and take action where someone has abused the system :

Fraud Prevention Courses
A selection of courses, most of which you can have delivered as half day briefings for up to thirty staff a day or as part of intensive training. These courses target the need for you and your staff to understand and identify the risks of fraud in your organisation and know how to verify genuine documents from fraudulent ones.

Open Source – Intelligence & Evidence Gathering – Price Code A
As our world becomes more and more technology based, so should our investigations.  If you realise this then you’ll know that there’s a wealth of information that can be accessed directly from your desktop.  Here’s how to do it.

RIPA Courses
We offer a wide selection of courses in RIPA from Applications and Authorisation to Handling a CHIS.

Examining Accounts – Price Code E
A two day course that examines how to check a basic set of accounts for accuracy, how to reconcile income against expenses and how to spot the common dodges.

News Articles

Early Plea Reduction… or Maybe Not?
All defendants know they are entitled to a reduction in sentence for an early plea. This is all very well, if the plea is made as early as possible or any delays are in good faith, but what should Prosecutors do if defendants cause extra work by mucking around? These two cases might help…

Abbas [2017] EWCA Crim 251
A full reduction for the guilty pleas was deemed not to be appropriate. Since entering their pleas the appellants had made “a desperate attempt to try to limit their apparent responsibility and participation in the conspiracy”. As a result, further work had to be carried out, following which new bases of plea were submitted which demonstrated that the appellants’ position moved to a significant degree. This had been a very strong attempt to move the offending down the categories in order to receive a lower sentence. Although there had not been a full hearing, much work had been done and, as a result, the full credit could not be preserved and should, instead, be in the region of 20%. (There were further reductions in sentence to reflect personal mitigation and other factors.)

Butt [2017] EWCA Crim 352
The judge gave a little over 10 per cent credit for Butt’s late plea, which was entered on the day of his trial. The explanation provided for not entering the plea earlier is that his representatives had been unable to view the CCTV footage before the first day of trial. That, said the judge, was not a sufficient explanation. Butt was fully aware of the case against him and had seen the CCTV footage himself during his interview under caution. As soon as he knew that the more serious charge was to be dismissed, he could and should have pleaded guilty to this lesser charge at the earlier hearing.

The message for defendants is one of certainty and it is very simple : if you want the full credit plead early and advance a basis of plea that makes sense and is realistic.

The message to prosecutors is equally clear : if defendants have created work by delaying a plea, make sure the court knows of this and draw its attention to these cases!