Lucy Rigby

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (David Pinto-Duschinsky) on securing this important debate on fraud and economic crime and the work of the Serious Fraud Office in combating those threats. The debate has been thoughtful and considered, covering different types of fraud and plenty of personal stories and experiences. Fraud, bribery and corruption undermine economic security and prosperity, and undermine the very significant majority of people in this country who play by the rules. That is why the Government are so determined to stamp out such crimes and to support the SFO in its core mission. That is how we will protect our economic security and prosperity, as well as the reputation and integrity of the UK as a leading international financial centre. It is also how we will protect working people from the pernicious types of fraud that have been so aptly described today. As my hon. Friend said, the economic crime landscape has been fundamentally transformed by rapid technological advancement. Criminals now exploit new and powerful tools, from cryptoassets that enable money laundering to AI-generated audio or images, that have fundamentally changed how we traditionally tackle fraud. Those new types of intricate scams acquire new victims, as he and my hon. Friend the Member for Clwyd North (Gill German) mentioned. As has been covered already, the human suffering is heartbreaking. Those changes in technology also bring us great opportunities to fight such crimes, as well as tools to do so more quickly and effectively. The environment demands constant innovation and growth, and I see that exemplified by the Serious Fraud Office, with the organisation’s ambition to be bolder and more pragmatic as it continues and succeeds in tackling complex fraud, bribery and corruption. As has rightly been acknowledged, the Serious Fraud Office is a highly specialist agency. It does crucial work to investigate and prosecute the most serious and complex cases of fraud, bribery and corruption, and it is the only agency in the country to follow criminal investigations from cradle to grave—police, prosecutor and proceeds of crime, all under one roof. The SFO has a complex and challenging caseload, reflecting both the highly specialised work it does and the difficulty of accessing meaningful intelligence on some of the world’s most sophisticated criminals. Its investigations are typically high profile and high risk, and they are invariably cross border, requiring sophisticated expertise and co-ordination. Like my hon. Friends the Members for Hendon and for Kensington and Bayswater (Joe Powell), I am heartened to see a refreshed SFO that is taking significant positive steps forward under the strong leadership of the director, Nick Ephgrave. He is committed to a focus on using new tools, enhancing the SFO’s intelligence capacity, and working with domestic and international partners—all furthering the SFO’s ambition to be bolder and more pragmatic. During his tenure, the SFO has charged 16 defendants on 43 counts of fraud, bribery and corruption; announced 10 overt investigations; and arrested and questioned 22 individuals. Since 2020, the SFO has returned more than £1 billion to the UK taxpayer in penalties, demonstrating the impressive financial contribution it makes relative to its small running costs. The organisation currently has 35 active criminal cases, in addition to civil cases, proceeds of crime cases and mutual legal assistance cases, which bring its total caseload to about 150. Earlier today we saw an example of the SFO’s crucial work as it announced an investigation into Rockfire Investment Finance plc, relating to an alleged £400 million fraud against Thurrock council between 2016 and 2020. I saw the SFO’s work at first hand when I accompanied it on an early morning raid as it searched five properties and made three arrests in relation to a new multimillion-pound international bribery investigation. As I noted, recovering ill-gotten gains and returning money to victims and the taxpayer is a crucial part of the SFO’s role. It is highly skilled at recovering funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002: it recovered £160 million between March 2021 and March 2024.[Official Report, 23 February 2026; Vol. 781, c. 2WC.] (Correction) In January, it successfully secured its first unexplained wealth order as it seeks to recover a Lake district property believed to have been purchased with the proceeds of a £100 million fraud—demonstrating that, wherever criminal assets have been hidden or dispersed, the SFO will explore new methods to recover funds for victims and the public purse. It is vital that the SFO continues to adapt to the increasing pace of change and technological innovation. Part of that drive is being put into action with faster case progression, stricter case discipline, and the creation of capacity for more investigations through the SFO’s “sharper, faster casework” initiative, as demonstrated by the fact that charges were brought in the Axiom Ince case only 15 months after the investigation was launched. My hon. Friend the Member for Kensington and Bayswater spoke about financially incentivising whistleblowers. It is absolutely right that, in this environment, the SFO examines new and potentially transformative tools in the fight against fraud and economic crime, including the financial incentivisation of whistleblowers. That is clearly a priority issue for the director, and I note that Jonathan Fisher KC will be considering such incentivisation as part of his independent review of fraud. As has been widely covered, fraud does not stop at national borders, and it is therefore vital that enforcement activities do not either—that is to say that, when criminals do not observe national boundaries, nor will enforcement. That is why the SFO makes co-operation with international partners a priority. It recently launched a new international anti-corruption prosecutorial taskforce with Swiss and French partner agencies that will strengthen the existing ties with those countries and lead to greater joint working on cases, as well as a greater sharing of insights and expertise. The SFO will continue to strengthen its key international partnerships to ensure continued, robust enforcement against international bribery and corruption, because it is firmly in our national interests to do so.