Serious Fraud Office hopes to make more Libor charges in Autumn
The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has said it is hoping to make more charges against individuals for manipulation the Libor interbank lending rate this Autumn and is not afraid of legal barriers to convicting corporations.
Speaking to Reuters, a spokesperson for the SFO said:
We will go where the evidence takes us, but we will always want to focus on more senior people and those with the greatest culpability when we can.
She added that institutions are also being investigated.
Together, Barclays, RBS and UBS have paid around $2.6bn (£1.7bn) towards civil settlements with regulators in the UK and the US. The SFO has also charged three relatively junior individuals.
In English law, a corporation can only be criminally liable if the bosses are guilty.