UK High Court approves Ultra Electronics deferred prosecution agreement
Defense-contractor compliance owners are now bound to operate under a court-supervised anti-bribery remediation and reporting regime to avoid prosecution under the DPA
Change
The UK High Court approved a deferred prosecution agreement under which Ultra Electronics agreed to pay £10m plus £4.8m in Serious Fraud Office costs after admitting failure to prevent bribery linked to public-sector contracts pursued in Algeria and Oman via agents.
Why it matters
Ultra Electronics must provide yearly reports to the Serious Fraud Office for the next three years demonstrating the effectiveness of its anti-bribery and compliance programme, creating an enforceable compliance-performance deadline cycle tied to deferred prosecution.
Implications
- — Applies if you are Cobham Ultra (Ultra Electronics) compliance leadership: Cobham Ultra must submit annual effectiveness reports to the Serious Fraud Office for three years — failure breaches the deferred prosecution agreement approved by the High Court.
- — Applies if you are Cobham Ultra internal audit and compliance testing teams: internal testing must generate evidence sufficient to support the required annual reports to the Serious Fraud Office — failure leaves Cobham Ultra unable to meet the DPA reporting obligation.
- — Applies if you are Cobham Ultra third-party/agent due diligence owners: controls governing the use of agents in public-sector contract pursuits must operate effectively enough to be evidenced in the annual reports — failure breaches the DPA’s requirement to demonstrate an effective anti-bribery programme.
Who is affected
- — Cobham Ultra (Ultra Electronics) compliance leadership
- — Cobham Ultra (Ultra Electronics) internal audit and compliance testing teams
- — Cobham Ultra (Ultra Electronics) third-party/agent due diligence owners