Serious Fraud Office Summary Grounds of Resistance

In its response to The Corner House/CAAT application for a judicial review of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to discontinue its BAE-Saudi Arabia corruption investigation, the SFO Director argues that permission to bring a judicial review should be refused because:

• the application is based upon the interpretation of an international treaty -- the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention -- over which, the SFO argues, the UK Courts have no jurisdiction to interpret or apply;
• the decision to stop the investigation was not in breach of the Convention anyway; and
• the decision did not contravene any domestic law.